SDCC 2014: 'The Walking Dead' Panel Infects Us With Season 5 Details

We’ve already had a chance to show you the trailer for Season 5 of ‘The Walking Dead, and now we’ve got the roundup of what was announced at the panel itself. As always there are huge potential spoilers ahead,though it’s doubtful you are reading any Comic-Con panel coverage without taking into consideration that there would be spoilers being covered.

When the panel opens they give a hilarious tease that shows where the characters are in the fifteenth episode of the next season! In it we see both Rick and Glenn sporting huge beards and are killing time playing cards while nomming down on unidentifiable meat.

“Tastes like Carl” Rick says! Mmm tasty.

While that clearly won’t be how we see the characters end up, showrunner Scott Gimple did tell us that we’ll see how Terminus came to be. I think this will be an important part of the arc as every time we see the origins of the villains, you can see a little bit of Dixon and Grimes in them. When push comes to shove, they are willing to do just about anything to keep their people safe. That is actually quite a bit of details for what to expect from the usually extremely tight lipped Gimple.

Kirkman is a little more revealing as he tell us that while the season starts off in Terminus, it is only a pit stop before they get back on track for the course that he laid out in the comics. What direction that course is about to take is questionable though. On top of teasing that little nugget, Kirkman lets us know that we won’t be getting the Rick that we had while they were in the prison.

“Mega Kung-Fu Grip Rick is what we’ve had in the comics for awhile,” Kirkman said. “But it’s taken awhile to get there in the show.”

It looks like being stuck in the train car is going to help put Rick on a more aggressive course for his life. Though I would wager we can all know exactly which point that kicked in last season. I’ll give you a hint for those who forgot: it would be a scene that involves Carl in serious danger right before they get to Terminus.

Special effects guru Greg Nicotero has a great quote for those who have been missing the undead. “We’re constantly trying to refine the look of the walkers.” This was clarified when the crew find themselves in flooded basement with walkers who have been stuck there for a long time.

Mmm waterlogged walkers. That sounds like it would be visually horrible. I’m sure the smell would be fantastic as well. Rotting wet meat anyone?

You can check out the full panel below for all of the details!