[Spoilers from season three ahead.]

As it prepares to enter its fourth season tonight, AMC's The Walking Dead already finds itself in the hands of its third show runner. In 2011, Frank Darabont, the man who helped bring the series to fruition, stepped down as show runner and was replaced by executive producer Glen Mazzarra, who ran the show until he decided to step down at the conclusion of the third season. And so it goes that writer/producer Scott Gimple would carry the torch going into this new season, with our weary survivors just having vanquished The Governor at last season's end. And carry it, he does. Tonight's premiere is everything that's great about The Walking Dead. Great character development, a sense of community, emotional impact, and some truly terrifying moments all help to make Gimple's debut a successful one.

We sat down with the new show runner to discuss what to expect of The Walking Dead's new season, the show's rocky history, and fan favorites Michonne and Tyreese.

ESQUIRE.COM: There's a different feel to the early part of this season than we've seen previously on The Walking Dead. It almost feels like you are trying to lull the audience into the same false sense of security that the prison group is experiencing in the first two episodes of this new season.

SCOTT GIMPLE: I would absolutely agree with that. The prison is an idyllic place now, comparatively to how it was, and we wanted to feel that for a little while before things inevitably go south, as they always do on this show.

ESQ: Last year's big story was The Governor and it was a huge success. How can you top that this year?

SG: I think what's awesome about The Governor is that there are a lot of stories there. I looked at the comic when I was reading it and wondered, "What's the man underneath all this?" And I love the novels because you got really deep into The Governor with the novels. I think, in terms of telling stories with The Governor this year, it's about looking deep into his character and who he was. We last saw him do something incredibly traumatic to the people he did it to as well as to himself. How does that affect him? How does that change him? Who is he now? I think there's some great story to be mined in that. Without giving too many details, I'm really proud of the stuff we've done with The Governor this year. Stuff David [Morrissey] did with him. I can't wait for people to see it.

ESQ: Did you feel a lot of pressure going into this season as the new show runner and having to follow such a successful year?

SG: I felt pressure in the moment when I was a writer/producer just down in Georgia filming these scenes, or I was up in the room doing my own scripts. If you want to do a good job and do right by this story and right by the fans and right by everybody who works on the show, you feel a lot of pressure. But it's good that the pressure comes from yourself where you're like, "Damn, I just want this to be great." It's the hardest pressure to deal with but it's also the best kind of pressure.

ESQ: With Breaking Bad gone now and Mad Men on its way out, you guys are carrying the AMC brand now. Not to pile it on, but...

SG: [Laughs] It would be cool if you just listed all the reasons I should feel pressure...

ESQ: Here are all the reasons you should have a panic attack when you go home tonight...

SG: In the end, though, when you sit there and you watch the episode that you and so many others have poured their hearts and souls into, that's a lot of pressure right there because we all want it to be great. Luckily, all of us working together, so far so good on that.

ESQ: Without going into spoilers: We know The Governor is back at some point, but what are some of the "big" stories that fans can look forward to this year?

SG: I think one cool thing that fans will be totally into this year is that every character has a story. Every single one of them. Some are bigger and some are smaller, but every single character has a story. A lot of people have different favorites on the show and, when I've worked on the show in past years, we've always wanted to hit more of the characters but the stories we were telling didn't always allow us. Sitting down this year, one of my priorities was figuring out a way to give everybody an important part of the story so that their stories could affect one another. I also think there's some really cool Tyreese stuff coming up this year.

ESQ: It really does feel like, in the beginning of this season, he's turning into the Tyreese from the comic. He has a lot more to do and it feels like he's becoming Tyreese.

SG: That was definitely a function last year of the story we were telling and having the room to tell more of it. The little we got of Tyreese, I think people were really psyched about but, man, this year we put that character and that actor through their paces.

ESQ: We also have Michonne who has really become one of the show's main attractions. We get to see a softer, more vulnerable side of her this year.

SG: I was working with Danai a lot last year so I was really excited to show the different sides of this character and the different sides of what Danai can do. This year, we see a lot of different things from Michonne. Hopefully unexpected. She's really, really talented and also super-funny.

ESQ: Yeah, even in these first two episodes there are some great beats for her that feel unexpected.

SG: I love seeing Carl and Michonne as buddies. That's in the comic, of course, and I love seeing it on the show. I just love it. I love building that relationship from where it started. They're really good together. It's funny. Danai and Michonne both have this great smile and it can light up a scene.

ESQ: Yeah, she didn't have much reason to smile when we first met her.

SG: You're right with what you're saying about a false sense of security but at the moment, for a lot of these characters, there is a reason to smile. That's going to make it — when they don't have a reason to smile — that much harsher.

ESQ: With all the changing of the guard over the past few years on The Walking Dead, are you able to go in there and do your job creatively and logistically to the best of your ability or does that revolving show-runner door hang over your head as you're working?

SG: I go in there and do the job. There's no Sword of Damocles hanging over me. I don't feel that. It's just doing the job and doing the work. Part of the creative process is kicking things around. I do that in the writer's room. I do that with the executive producers, the directors, the actors, and absolutely with AMC. It's been a pleasure. I really enjoy the process and exploring the stories. It's been cool.

ESQ: Does it help to have Robert in the mix as well because he's been the consistent person throughout the entire series?

SG: Yeah, absolutely. He wrote two tremendous scripts this year, but he's also the mind that came up with this universe. The way that he approaches sitting and kicking ideas around, it isn't like he says, "Well, this is what I think and I am the King of The Walking Dead." He goes in the writer's room and he is a writer/producer on this show. There have been a few things that I have put in front of him and said, "Listen, this is going to be very different from the comic. It's going to take this iconic moment that we haven't gotten to yet and it's going to change it, but I think it's going to be cool." There was one instance where I told him and he's like, "Oh, man. I don't know about that." [Laughs] Then I told him the story and he was like, "Oh, damn. That's exactly what we have to do."

ESQ: And that's something in the new season?

SG: Yeah, that's something that'll be coming up this year.

ESQ: That's one of the things that Robert said about the companion series that AMC announced for 2015. He said it would allow him to tell stories outside of the comics. Creatively, is there any worry about watering down the brand or is it kind of liberating to have the opportunity to tell more stories?

SG: I played the Telltale Games The Walking Dead game, which basically is doing what they talked about doing with the companion series, which, honestly, I don't know much about — they're developing it. That game was cool. Lee and Clementine are awesome characters, so they've already done it. I wouldn't be surprised if they can do it again.

ESQ: As long as they do it well and tell compelling stories, I think fans will eat it up.

SG: I mean, if they want to go with like a three-camera thing, live in front of a studio audience, comedy, I would support that. I'd be a little worried, but I'd be there opening night. [Laughs]

ESQ: Just insert the laugh track.

SG: Exactly.

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