With the recent denouement of the All Out War, The Walking Dead brought an end to Team Family's ongoing troubles with the dreaded Negan and his Saviors. All that constant bloodshed might have left some fans wishing for the slightly less bloody days of The Governor. As it turns out, former star David Morrissey would also be keen on The Governor getting another shot at small screen glory. Not by coming back to life in the present day narrative, but through a prequel project based on Robert KIrkman and Jay Bonansinga's Governor novels. In Morrissey's words:
I would love to play the role again, however there are no plans to do it. Not to my knowledge anyway. He was a character that I felt had great depth and complexity. Not just a cardboard baddy. A lot of my inspiration for the role came from the books written by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga. I think these books are fantastic and I think it would be wonderful to do a mini series of them.
For franchise fans who aren't aware, Walking Dead comic creator Robert Kirkman and author Jay Bonansinga released a trilogy of zombified novels based on Brian "The Governor" Blake. (Not Philip, who was actually his brother.) It started in 2011 with Rise of the Governor, which was followed by 2012's The Road to Woodbury and 2013's The Fall of the Governor, with later Walking Dead novels taking on other subject matter. Mixing some familiar TV and comic events into the overall narrative, the books offered a more widescale look at the villain's life than the other mediums could possibly give us, even if they never exactly made him warm and cuddly.
Even though there would almost definitely be a need to adjust and alter the novels' storyline in order to avoid touching upon moments we're already seen on the TV series, AMC could probably spin some gold out of bringing these novels to life. Especially if David Morrissey, who already considers The Governor to be the apex of Walking Dead villainy, is verbally down to return to the universe to play the morally defunct leader. A Governor miniseries could serve as a perfect fill-in during the hiatus for either The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead, keeping fans invested in this expanding world without the need to keep expanding it. And if they wanted to split those adaptations up to make it last longer, so be it.
Taking part in a webchat through The Guardian, David Morrissey sounded a lot more interested in reprising the Governor role than man other actors tend to sound in similar situations, where vagueness and deflection is key. Of course, if AMC would want to make this project happen, Morrissey's day-to-day work schedule would need to be worked around. This year already, the actor starred in the Amazon import Britannia, as well as the BBC miniseries adaptation of China Miéville's _The City & The City. _
David Morrissey signed on for The Walking Dead back in 2012 for Season 3, with fellow U.K. actor and TWD alum Lennie James convincing him to do so. The Governor's reign, celebrated as it was, somehow only lasted for a little over a year of real-world time, though his last appearance was technically in Season 5, as part of Tyreese's pre-death hallucinations. But fans have been calling for his return ever since his death outside the prison, especially in the face of the less-than-excellent Terminus crew and the Wolves. Perhaps Morrissey's continued respect for his former character will go a ways in convincing AMC execs to consider it.
Though The Walking Dead is currently on hiatus, Season 9 and its many changes will arrive this fall. In the meantime, be sure to watch Fear the Walking Dead on AMC every Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. ET. In the meantime, check out what we know about the new Fear villains, the Vultures, and then head to our summer premiere schedule to see all the new and returning shows that are on the way.
