At Comic-Con last month, IGN sat down with The Walking Dead creator/executive producer/writer Robert Kirkman, new showrunner Scott Gimple, executive producer/special effects makeup designer Greg Nicotero, executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, and several cast members from the hit series.

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The through-line for most of the conversation was a third threat that the characters would be facing this season in addition to the zombie attacks and the human drama, but of course everyone played coy to avoid spoiling the surprise. Still, there was a lot to be said about what's coming up in Season 4.The Governor, played by David Morrissey, was noticeably absent from the Season 4 trailer . “I was playing the horse,” Morrissey joked, before reassuring that he will indeed be a part of the story. “He's in a deeply traumatic place. He's got issues. He's psychopathic. I don't think he does those things without consequence to his soul. He does them and they take a toll on him. He has to carry that burden. The great thing for me and this season coming up is that the writers have written some great complex things for me to do, and I'm relishing it.”Regarding the Governor's psyche, Gimple said, “He slaughtered his own people. When he gets in that truck [at the end of Season 3], he's not grinning, he's not smiling and laughing, he has no mustache to twirl. It looks like he just might have destroyed himself."Kirkman said that Tyreese is what he's most excited for in Season 4. “What you see a little bit of in that trailer is Tyreese stepping up as a character and taking a more central role. We didn't get a lot of time with him in Season 3 with everything else that was going on, and now in Season 4 we are really able to bring him to the forefront and integrate him into the core cast in a bigger way. We're doing a lot with him. I think Chad Coleman has proven that he's got very broad shoulders that can carry the lead and everything we ask him to do. I'm excited for people to see where we take his character because it's going to be really awesome.”Gimple was excited about two new additions to The Walking Dead, remarking, “We have a new character, Bob Stookey [played by Coleman's fellow The Wire alum, Lawrence Gilliard Jr.], who is coming on. Some major stuff goes down, which puts him in opposition to some major characters and gets him closer to other characters. We have a character we haven't talked much about, this character Zack played by Kyle Gallner (Veronica Mars, Smallville). He has a romantic relationship with one of the characters. That's a way very quickly that you get to know him. He's not one of our major new characters, but you get to know a lot about him real quick."As for the new threat, Gimple could only tease its nature. “It's a force that you can't just stab in the face, you can't talk reason to."Kirkman elaborated a little, saying, “Possibly the most deadly threat that they've faced thus far. They're still going to be dealing with the zombies, they're still very much a threat. They're still going to be dealing with humans, that's still very much a threat. But there's a new element thrown in, this new unseen force that is going to be extremely dangerous and possibly more dangerous than anything.”“It would be an enemy in this world, but in that world, it's terrifying," said Gimple, before deadpanning, "White Walkers." Kirkman joined in with, “Dragons!”As for the main romantic relationship on the show these days, Steven Yeun talked about his character Glenn's situation with Maggie. “Last season you saw them on the bed, you saw them come back from a terrible situation, internally and externally, and you see them come together through that moment of proposal. I loved that moment because it was mutual. We leave from that moment solidified and united and together. I can't really say what's coming up, but those two are together. They are each others'."One of the most noteworthy moments from the trailer features an armed Tyreese wildly swinging at a swarm of zombies closing in around him. “That was an awesome experience,” Coleman said. “Total homage to the comic book. That was amazing and I know our amazing fans are going to really appreciate that. So that's huge. I know they're going to say, 'Yeah! That's Tyreese.'”Coleman described Season 4 as “epic and gut-wrenching,” and Hurd expounded on the feel of the season. “I think it's very character driven,” Hurd said. “But there will be seminal moments of horror, and obviously there's action, you saw that in the trailer, but all of it is the characters and how this world is affecting them, how they are affecting this world.”Andrew Lincoln spoke about the state that his character Rick finds himself in come Season 4. Explained Lincoln, “He's a man trying to reclaim what he once was. We find him trying to subdue the brutality inherent in himself, and also maybe relinquishing responsibilities for the sake of his family. You see a man trying to be a single dad in an apocalypse. It's a challenge." Lincoln added that we will see a little bit of the detective nature of the sheriff he once was.Lincoln also alluded to the mysterious threat they will face. “There are ways that I find more horrifying when I read certain scripts this season that have nothing to do with conflict or zombies and they're incredibly frightening and horrifying, and as much as the pressure builds, there's a new pressure. They've been very smart in adding that texture, that flavor, the horror back in the show,” he said.Nicotero explained the genesis of the new threat. “A lot of it came from a conversation Scott Gimple and I had last year. Our group survives on the road for such a long time, they become so proficient at killing walkers, that we felt that threat of them needs to be ever-present. The idea that our group could find themselves in the middle of a situation they can't handle,” he said. “[Before Season 4], they walk into a prison yard filled with 60 walkers and it's like, 'We gotta kill them, move to another area and kill them, and take over the prison,' whereas it was important to me to make sure we kept that threat viable. The writers came up with several great devices, even storytelling-wise, that take it to the next level. You'll find out by the end of the first episode.”As for Daryl, Norman Reedus spoke about how his character has been dealing with the loss of his brother Merle. “I don't know if he's over it,” said Reedus. “The thing is, he thought his brother was already gone until we got to Woodbury. He sort of accepted it without wanting to before. In that one scene, we're taking over Woodbury, there's flash-bang grenades and all this stuff... With Merle away, Daryl became his own man. Instead of becoming mini-Merle, he became his own guy. To lose him again, it hurts. Being in this world, it's hard. There's also that we're losing people all the time, so it's understandable that it's still painful. I think he grew up a lot.”When asked about the third threat, Reedus had one response: “Sharknado.”

The Walking Dead: Season 4 premieres October 13th on AMC.Joshua writes for IGN. If Pokemon, Game of Thrones, or Green Lantern are frequently used words in your vocabulary, then you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN