“The Walking Dead” legend Greg Nicotero opens “The Book of Carol”

[This story contains some spoilers from the season two premiere of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol.]

There are very few figures from the original Walking dead Days still involved in the franchise. Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride’s Daryl Dixon and Carol Pelletier are two of those familiar faces who hail from the Frank Darabont-led first season of The walking deadand now headlining her own spin-off The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol.

But there’s another person who has been with them every step of the way, chronicling not just Daryl and Carol’s journeys but also the evolution of the Dead themselves: Greg Nicotero, the executive producer and legendary horror mastermind largely responsible for this is responsible for saving the dead lives. An integral part of the bigger picture Walking dead Nicotero has become one of the series’ most reliable directors since the first season in the franchise and continues to play the role Daryl Dixon Second season premiere.

Nicotero speaks to us below The Hollywood Reporter about crafting Walking dead The exciting start to the spinoff’s second season, how he continues to innovate zombies all these years after the first season and why he has a slightly different view of Carol than most.

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Carol is back! Walk me through Melissa McBride’s return to the Walking dead Universe. What were the goals of this first episode?

This is the first episode of Daryl Dixon which spends most of its time in the United States, but was all filmed in northeastern France. Even the drive-in theater embodied a kind of truly American life that you don’t see in Europe, it tells a story to the audience. We found a house on Ash’s property about an hour outside of Paris where we could build the greenhouse and barn. So we went ahead and developed this American flavor.

At that point I was so excited to shoot one Walking dead Episode that had a different flavor. This show has a very special feel to it in the way it is shot, edited and choreographed. When we were in Georgia, dollies and cameras moved slowly [shooting the flagship series]and here there was perhaps a dolly track for the whole episode. The rest was all Steadicam. So there’s a whole visual motif that needs to be built within the camera.

From a technical perspective, you highlight some key differences from the original Walking dead and this new version. In what other ways do you think the shows differ significantly? Location has to play a big role in how filming in Europe affects what you can do now?

First: Yes, it’s the place itself. There are castles, there are monasteries, things that are hundreds and hundreds of years old. Thousands of years, in some cases. You can really let the places become your character. Mont Saint-Michel for example. I had learned about this place and its history in high school; Before there was a bridge, people made a pilgrimage across the plains, and if the flood came and they didn’t make it, they were considered unworthy. There is a real desire to ensure that we pay tribute to the culture. We didn’t have that culture as a character in the original series, not in the same way. We have many options here. That’s why we took so many large-scale drone shots. We want it to feel immersive. Between [fellow directors] Michael Slovis and Dan Percival, I think we did just that.

From Walker’s perspective, what else can you innovatively bring to the franchise over the years?

There is now a whole subculture of souped-up zombies in the series’ universe. There are these experiments that make the zombies faster and deadlier, as we discovered in the first season. This season… well, you’ll see. You’ll see more things like veins creeping around their faces. We shot this one sequence, an attack, with a lot of zombies, and we had them running. People would come up to me and say, “Are you okay with zombies running?” I know you’re a purist.” And I said, “See, it makes sense! There’s a reason they’re running. It’s not just someone who said, ‘Zombies should be fast,’ and we do it.”

Just look at episode one where Carol is in the greenhouse. She remains trapped in it. I like how cleverly she barricades herself inside. But what’s important to me in this scene is how you see the zombies. Their faces are right there. If you look back at the history of the series, we’ll see that we’re rarely too close to the zombies for any length of time before they’re killed. The big problem is, as Noah [Tyler James Williams] and Glenn [Steven Yeun] were in the revolving door in season five, and what’s fascinating about this scene is that Glenn was fully protected, giving him a front row seat [to the zombies executing Noah’s gruesome demise].

For me it is always important to see these zombies. I am the enforcer on set. I’m Dirty Harry. I always tell everyone, “Guys, get close-ups of the zombies!” When we’re blocking a scene and there’s a zombie 20 feet away, we often focus on Daryl and Carol. But not the zombies. We don’t jump in and get too close to them. But that’s always my intuition. You are a character in this show. You always notice in my episodes that the zombies are highlighted even more than in most other episodes because I feel like when you see them up close you really immerse yourself in the world.

It is noteworthy that the balance between portraying the human aspect of The walking deadwithout losing sight of the walking dead themselves.

Right, it’s about balance and keeping it real, what you have to keep in check. That’s part of what I’m trying to do. Sometimes I say to the showrunners or writers, “I think we need a little more of this stuff.” We need to remind the audience of the world we live in.” When you’re in a Western, you’re always reminded that you are in a western. This is something we have to do too. You don’t want to get too lost in other things and forget the world outside the monastery door.

Back to the topic of Melissa and her return to The walking deadAs you mentioned, you’ve been working with her ever since The fogand certainly the first season of the flagship series. You’ve seen Carol develop into the Sarah Connor type she is today. How do you assess her journey to get to this point, how she got this way?

I’ve known Melissa since we filmed The fog with Frank Darabont. We met there and Frank discovered her amazing talents. I remember being on that set and Frank saying, “Damn, this woman is so fucking good.” There’s this moment at the end of the movie where Tom Jane sees her, and that’s a direct result of how very much Frank admired her talent. So she and I have been really good friends for a long time. It was a monumental feat to bring this character to this show, but Melissa trusts and knows me. That has brought us far.

It’s funny because I don’t think of Carol as a badass like everyone else. Melissa and I have discussed this on numerous occasions. She’s the one who says, “I’ll just do what needs to be done.” One of my favorite episodes that I directed was [the season five premiere]where she goes into the terminus. All her friends are there. She has to save them. She is very efficient and clever in the way she does it. She’s not a skilled fighter or anything, she’s just smart and she uses her knowledge to save her friends and get out of situations. But everything comes from emotions.

There’s something very subtle about Melissa as an actress and Carol as a character that I really love. Go back to the beginning of season four. If there is a virus outbreak in prison. In the end, Carol kills two sick people and burns their bodies. You never see them doing it. It’s this heinous crime. Who would do something so terrible? And you realize that she’s able to do that, but only because she wanted to protect everyone else who was there. Rick finds out and banishes her, but at that moment Carol begins to become the person she is today.

There are all these steps along the way where Carol learns her voice and her strength. In the first season, she hits Ed’s corpse with a shovel and you can see that she’s letting out all the anger that’s inside her. In the second season she loses Sophia [Madison Lintz]. She then develops this friendship with Daryl. All of these things just keep adding up for this character. So when people say, “Carol is such a badass,” my answer is, “She’s not a badass.” She’s efficient. She does what she has to do.” However, the journey that has brought her here is truly fascinating.

Yes, I even think back to it before Season four, where the prison is overrun and Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) dies, and everyone thinks Carol died too. But she just hides and waits. The story of this character is very deep as she and the franchise have been around for a long time.

In February it will be 15 years for me, maybe even longer because I was hired [for season one] before we started physical production. I got the script a year early. I’m the last man left of the original Walking dead. So I can appreciate a lot of those things, like that scene in [the Daryl Dixon season two premiere]where Carol lies about Sophia. “Oh yes, she’s in France.” You don’t expect that from her. It’s one of my favorite moments because the audience knows that Sophia has been dead for a very long time, but she weaves a web so deftly, and that’s something that’s on her mind throughout the season because of course she feels guilty about conjuring Sophia has. She’s not an emotionless Terminator. The fact that she goes there? It’s a fucking shitty moment.

But I have to say, the place and the crew and the passion of Norman and Melissa and [showrunner David Zabel’s] Leadership, really keeps the whole thing fresh. I’m someone here who ensures continuity between the original show and the new one. Sometimes I said, “I don’t know if that would happen,” or, “We’ve done that before.” And in some of those moments, David wisely said, “We did it.” The Show, but here we’re going to do it differently.” I really admire that. He puts so much effort into making this show feel fresh and new.

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The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol Season two releases new episodes on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on AMC. The series has already been renewed for a third season. Follow along THRCheck out season coverage and keep track of franchise spinoffs here.