The Walking Dead: Andrew Lincoln Teases Rick Grimes, The Governor Face-Off

If the previews are anything to go by, this week’s episode of “The Walking Dead” will finally feature the long-awaited face-off between Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes and David Morrissey’s The Governor.

“There is a face-off coming,” Andrew told Access Hollywood last Friday at the PaleyFest 2013’s event honoring the show. “The writers have done a terrific job in just making a few twists and turns that you wouldn’t anticipate.”

David also hinted the face-off likely won’t go down the way viewers might predict.

“I think the main thing to say about that is what the show has done in the last half of the season is been full of surprises and twists and turns and I think people have been pleasantly surprised about how the show develops, and it’ll carry on in that way,” David told Access, when asked about the face-off back in January. “So the meeting that I think you’re expecting – it might have a little bit of an edge to it or something different anyway. It won’t be exactly the meeting you were hoping for.”

For Andrea, who is currently back in Woodbury, and sleeping with the enemy, she may return to her pre-zombie apocalypse roots to try and help both groups, following her failed assassination attempt of The Governor.

“Let me just be clear, she was sleeping with the enemy in [Episode 311] because she’s working on the inside. She did not sleep with him because it was like, ‘Oh, you’re so handsome, and I’m having a weak moment,’” Laurie Holden explained to Access on the PaleyFest red carpet. “She really thought that she could pull off what Carol asked of her — and that was her intention — but Andrea’s never killed a human being before and it’s very different to think that you can kill someone in cold blood and then actually stand over someone when they’re sleeping and slit their throat. So I think that you’re going to see in future episodes that she’s going to try for peace in the ways that she knows how. She was a lawyer prior to the apocalypse.”

Michonne certainly seemed to finally get a foothold in the group after going on the supply mission with Rick and Carl in last week’s episode, “Clear,” and to keep her spot going forward and inch her way toward becoming a fully-fledged member of Rick’s camp, Danai Gurira said her character will need to work on herself.

“I think working her way into the group is a lot about working on herself,” Danai told Access. “[For a long time], she was on her own, she developed her own survival skills, which she’s very dependent on. She learned how to live without human attachment, except when she took Andrea in, so the idea of having to open up to a group — and she knows that this where she should be — but it’s that journey into really embracing somewhat of her old self really, who she was before the apocalypse, because she became quite a different chick. But now it’s about being that formidable woman, but also going back to the woman she was before and trusting that it’s safe for her or worth the risk for her to let that part of her out.”

And could Merle have found a friend in Hershel? Asked if they’ll become pals – of sorts – after sharing a moment over scripture in Episode 311, Scott Wilson, who plays Hershel, hinted Merle might not be unwelcome in his prison bed any longer.

“It was an interesting scene. I think it shows how multi-dimensional Merle is. A lot of people have been surprised by his finishing off a verse in The Bible and knowing chapter and verse,” Scott said. “He’s a very interesting, entertaining character. I think it’s just interesting how all of the characters are evolving and sometimes they bump into each other. But then, they’re still in this same mix and they’re still pulling for each other”

“The Walking Dead” airs Sunday nights at 9 PM on AMC.

— Jolie Lash