David Morrissey was a big fan of the series “The Walking Dead” before starring in it.
He loved every moment of working on the show and found international fame from it,
but he was never the same after playing the Governor. Here's why.
When David Morrissey was first cast as the Governor, he turned
to some of Robert Kirkman's source material for inspiration. In an interview with SFX Magazine,
Morrissey explained that he had more questions about the Governor's backstory than "The
Walking Dead" comics seem to address. So Robert Kirkman told him to read the
spinoff novel "The Rise of the Governor" for a deeper dive into the character's history.
It wasn't until well after that first reading that Morrissey decided to jump into the comics.
When he did, he found a character who was very, quote, “dark and evil." He decided that he
wanted to use his screen time to explore how the Governor transformed from the character in "The
Rise of the Governor" to the epic antagonist seen in the pages of "The Walking Dead".
Speaking with Den of Geek, Morrissey explained that while getting ready for
the show, most of his conversations about the Governor were with showrunner Glen Mazzara.
The two of them talked about the Governor's psychology, including his penchant for
manipulation and his comfort level with the post-apocalyptic world around him.
Morrissey wanted to create a deeply felt, three-dimensional character who
would shock fans of "The Walking Dead" comics as much as viewers of the show.
David Morrissey spent some time studying famous leaders in history to prepare for the role.
He told The Walking Dead Universe that he read up on cult leaders like David Koresh and Jim Jones.
But it wasn't enough just to absorb ideas from cultists. He also took a look at more
modern political leaders. Morrissey explained that the Governor was able to offer security
to a whole group of people. The Governor may be manipulative, in that he knows how to keep people
in a state of indebtedness to him, but he also gives people something they truly need: security.
Morrissey elaborated on the Governor's relationship to modern political leaders
in his interview with Den of Geek. He shared,
"[Leaders have a habit of] turning up the gas on our sense of insecurity,
as well as our sense of security, in order to manipulate us."
Despite that less-than-savory tactic, in the world of the zombie apocalypse, the Governor
can still be considered a great leader because the security he creates is real. Morrissey said,
"He doesn't distract his populace with security, you know, that's it. Security is everything."
From the beginning, David Morrissey wanted to represent the Governor with more depth than the
character had in "The Walking Dead" comics. In the comics, the Governor charges head-on
into antagonist territory. He maims and murders without much in the way of regret. Morrissey's
Governor is different. His version of the character understands the evil that he's done,
and he struggles to square that knowledge with his own self-image. Speaking with SFX,
Morrissey has said the challenge for him as an actor was making sure that the Governor
did things for his good reasons, that they were absolutely paramount for his character.
That struggle comes to the forefront in Season 4.
Regarding the character's appearances in that season, Morrissey shared,
“What the Governor's trying to do is run away from the thing inside himself,
and he'll never run away."
That struggle can be seen on the screen when the Governor
kills Martinez and shouts the truth, that he doesn’t want the power back.
“I don’t want it! I don’t want it!”
The Governor didn't want to be forced back into a leadership
role because he knew it would make him do bad things again. At the same time,
he felt obligated to provide his group the protection that Martinez couldn't guarantee.
The meat and potatoes of "The Walking Dead," both on the page and on the screen,
is the relationships between the characters. For the most part, the characters get to know
each other at exactly the same time that the audience gets to know them. In that regard,
the Governor is a very unique character in the show because his relationship with the audience
is distinct from his relationship to any other person in the series.
David Morrissey talked about this relationship with Entertainment Weekly. He pointed out
that the show's audience gets to see the Governor in ways the other characters don't.
The audience sees him at his lowest points and at his most vulnerable moments.
No character in the show has the same amount of knowledge about the Governor as the audience does.
Only the viewers understand the character in his totality. For Morrissey, that's the best part
about the role. He loved that the Governor's relationship with the audience is total.
It's common knowledge that actors have to get into the minds of their characters.
And the process of understanding the Governor and his actions made
David Morrissey more empathetic in general. Morrissey told SFX,
"You don't have to sympathize with him, but I have to empathize with him."
Morrissey needed to understand, on an emotional level, what would drive the Governor to do some of
the evil things he does. As with many other people who do bad things, Morrissey said he thinks the
Governor is driven by fear. What feeling could inspire more empathy than fear for one's life?
At the same time, taking on the role forced Morrissey to look at
the other characters in "The Walking Dead" through a new set of eyes.
He's openly expressed his love for the show and its characters, particularly the main cast,
but that sense of love isn't shared by the Governor. Rick and the others at the prison
might be the protagonists of the show, but they're antagonists for the Governor. Morrissey
explained his view of the characters through the Governor's eyes by telling Den of Geek,
"They are a threat to his security,
terrorists are a threat to our way of life, and that's how he sees them."
In 2013, David Morrissey spoke with Conan O'Brien about the process of filming "The Walking Dead"
and how it ruined other shows for him. The series shoots in Georgia, and they're often filming
through large portions of the summer. The heat and humidity is incredible. Plus, the actors are
covered in dirt and fake blood, and many of their scenes involve intense action and athletic combat.
By the end of filming a season, many of the actors have lost weight just from the sweat and exertion.
Morrissey quickly pointed out that the crew members and zombie extras have it
harder than he did, as they don't have air conditioned trailers to escape to
in between takes. Despite the heat, everyone loves working on the show
and is incredibly passionate about bringing the zombie apocalypse to life on television.
However, all this has changed the way he views one particular series.
In the interview, Morrissey said he used to be a huge fan of "Mad Men." Now,
he has a different perception of the show. He watches the actors wear nice, clean suits
and play out their scenes in fancy offices with air conditioning. It all leaves him wondering,
“How can you pick the check up at the end of the week?”
According to David Morrissey, no one knows when their last episode of "The Walking Dead" is
going to be. During his interview with Conan O' Brien, the actor talked about the process
the stars all went through when they got a new script for an episode. They each took
the script back to their trailer to do a quick read-through to see whether or not they lived
through the episode. Usually, the person who stayed sitting in their trailer when
the actors regrouped was the one who didn't make it. Morrissey said that the show's
willingness to kill off major characters was something he appreciated about it.
Back in 2013, Den of Geek asked Morrissey if he'd discussed his character's eventual
exit from "The Walking Dead" with showrunner Glen Mazzara. Morrissey said,
“I haven't actually, because I don't really want to have that conversation."
Despite that reluctance, Morrissey knew his days were numbered from the very beginning.
The Governor died in the comics two years before Morrissey's first season of the show ever aired.
At a Rhode Island Comic-Con panel in 2017, Morrissey told fans the cast held
a "death dinner" for someone whenever it was their time to leave the show.
They needed to have the dinners at someone's house so fans wouldn't see the group out in
public and start speculating about who had died. And, unsurprisingly,
there were a lot of tears behind the scenes when it was the Governor's time to die.
David Morrissey had been acting on stage and on the screen for years before joining the cast
of "The Walking Dead." Before the show, though, he wasn't immediately recognized on the street,
particularly in America. Describing his San Diego Comic-Con experience,
which happened before his first appearance in the series, he told SFX,
"We went down, and people went crazy for us, screaming at us as we were driving
along outside the hotel. It was like being with a rock band. I'm a big fan,
so I'm in there, driving along like the roadie."
His "roadie" status ended after "The Walking Dead" Season 3 landed on AMC.
The season premiere had more viewers than any basic cable drama in history.
The Governor didn't make an appearance until the third episode of the season, "Walk With Me," but
enthusiasm for the show hadn't died down at all. By the time Morrissey walked onto the screen,
over 10.5 million people were watching him in the role. Afterwards, when Morrissey attended comic
conventions with "The Walking Dead" cast, fans were screaming for him as much as for anyone else.
David Morrissey had been a fan of "The Walking Dead" before he signed onto the show,
and he remained one after he left. Though he probably still considers himself a fan
to this day, he did eventually stop keeping up with the show on a weekly basis. In 2020,
Morrissey spoke with Digital Spy about when he finally decided to stop watching the show.
He kept with it long enough to see Negan make his dramatic entrance.
It turns out that Morrissey and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are friends,
and the two of them spoke about "The Walking Dead" in the lead-up to Morgan joining the main cast.
Morrissey very much enjoyed Morgan's take on the baddest of bad guys in "The Walking Dead,"
but he didn't stick around to see how the fight against Negan played out. He said that his main
reason for giving up on the show was that, with all his other projects going on, it was difficult
for him to commit to watching it in the way that fans do. However, Morrissey stepped away from the
series at the same time as many others. "The Walking Dead" saw a significant ratings dip in
its seventh and eighth seasons, but it's still one of the most popular shows on television.
Could fans someday see David Morrissey back on screen as the Governor? He certainly hopes so.
Most fans got their first taste of the Governor in the "The Walking Dead" comics and the AMC series.
Morrissey, however, fell in love with the character through three of Robert Kirkman's
novels: "The Rise of the Governor," "The Road to Woodbury," and "The Fall of the Governor."
In an interview with Digital Spy, Morrissey said,
"There's stories to be told in those novels that I think are really fascinating."
Since two of those three books all take place before the Governor's arrival on
"The Walking Dead" show, there might be an opening for a prequel spinoff.
In Season 4 of "The Walking Dead," Morrissey had a handful of episodes more or less to himself
as the show explored the Governor's fate after the fall of Woodbury. He proved that he's more
than capable of being a leading man in those few hours of television, but when Morrissey
pictures coming back to "The Walking Dead," he doesn't envision a prequel series at all.
Instead, he says he'd love to return in a film to tell the stories in Kirkman's novels.
Rick Grimes is getting a movie, why not the Governor?
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