'Walking Dead' Showrunner Scott Gimple Reveals Plans For Season Five Including One Character He Hopes To Bring Back

Scott Gimple, the showrunner of AMC’s monster hit ‘The Walking Dead‘ sat down for a quickfire interview with Larry King where he answered questions from fans, while only dodging a few more spoiler-y inquiries about this fall’s Season Five, which is still quite a ways off.

While not definitively stating that Season Five will pick up immediately where Four ended, it sounds as if unlike past seasons, there will not be a time jump, because the show ended on “such a cliffhanger, it would be hard to skip over what happens next.” He also states that the next season will be heavier on action than in the past, but that there will be another romance added to the show. This could simply refer to Abraham and Rosita who had a relationship in the comics which has been vaguely referenced on the show. Or it could be someone else…

When asked if Morgan Jones (played by Lennie James– the first human survivor that Rick encountered after leaving the hospital) would return, Gimple was emphatic. “I am so determined to make that happen by hook and by crook that I can say definitively, ‘Yes’. But there’s time and tide that can get in the way.” In the comics, Morgan eventually wound up as part of Rick’s group and had a romance with Michonne (then again, so did Tyreese). Could that be in the cards for Season Five?

When asked how long he foresaw the show lasting, Gimple expressed that he didn’t know that the comic book series would ever end, but he speculated that the show could possibly last 10-12 years, although considering the amount of deaths, it could evolve into a whole new cast by that point.

He stressed that the comics were a huge inspiration, even during storylines where the show varied wildly from the source material, such as Season Four’s Lizzie storyline, which had originally unfolded featuring a different character, a young boy named Ben who on the show was depicted as an older teenager/young adult and who wasn’t given much in terms of development.

In fact, even the current Terminus storyline is inspired by events in the comics, but is unfolding in a modified manner. (The character Gareth played by Andrew J. West doesn’t appear in the comics but is inspired by a character named Chris, leader of a group referred to as The Hunters.)

You can watch Gimple’s interview below: