Spoilers for “Say the Word" within. You’ve been warned.

In the aftermath of the house cleaning that last week's episode delivered, "Say the Word" depicted Rick's descent into madness while welcoming the new Baby Grimes into the cold, dead world. We also got to see zombie gladiator fights which is always cool. As always, we talked with Walking Dead creator/Executive Producer Robert Kirkman about the insanity of this week's episode.

Check out IGN TV’s review of "Say the Word"

IGN TV: As a fan of the comic books, the cliffhanger here is obviously very enticing. Without giving too much away to those that might not be in the know, can we expect Rick’s telephone conversation to go in a similar direction as the comics?

Robert Kirkman: I certainly could see it going that way, but I would just say if you’re a fan of the comic and you’ve been reading the comic for a while, you may know what’s coming. This is one of those situations where it certainly seems you could expect what’s coming but whether or not that’s where we go, it’s something you’re just going to have to watch and find out. But this is one of those times where it pays to be reading the comic.

IGN: Obviously there’s a great supporting cast in this show to pick up the slack, but as a writer, how do you handle a protagonist’s descent into madness like we’re seeing with Rick without losing sympathy for them?

Kirkman: I feel like seeing him past his breaking point and seeing him losing his humanity to a certain extent can make him seem somewhat likeable and sympathetic. He’s definitely losing it a bit and doing some crazy things. It’s something we’re incredibly fortunate to be able to do on this show; from the pilot episode we learned that Andrew Lincoln is somebody who we could do an entire episode just pointing the camera at his face and having him to react to things and it would be compelling.

We know that we can push him extremely far and know that he can handle the scenes. He plays so well to the camera that we’re always going to want to learn more about him and be with him and experience these things with him. We’re on a journey right now and it’s getting darker. Where it goes from here nobody really knows, but I think people are invested at this point that if Rick started doing some extremely crazy things people would still want to know why and what’s going to come next.

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IGN: Woodbury is the source of most of the big reveals in this episode, including the Governor’s daughter and the gladiator arena. The daughter is really just a tease though; will we be seeing more about the relationship, if you can call it that, between the Governor and his kid?

Kirkman: Yeah, that’s definitely a big part of who the Governor is. That’s probably the only window to his former humanity. It informs the kind of person he used to be, and I think makes him somewhat sympathetic which is incredibly important as we see as evil as he could be and possibly will be. So moving on, you’ll be seeing more of that.

IGN: The arena is interesting because it plays with the idea that people are adapting to this savage way of life, whereas Michonne is under the impression that no one really knows what’s going on behind-the-scenes of Woodbury. Obviously, this implies otherwise. How much do you think the average Woodbury resident is willing to pay for comfort?

Kirkman: I think everyone in Woodbury recognizes that these are staged fights. It serves a lot of purposes. The Governor’s allowed to entertain the audiences and keep people occupied and have something to look forward to. It makes Martinez and Merle heroes to a certain extent; they end up being local celebrities in Woodbury. But it also gives the people of Woodbury a very safe reminder of what’s outside of those walls and why they need the Governor. There’s a lot of psychology at play here; it’s keeping the masses occupied but also saying, “Look how much you need me. Imagine if you had to deal with the world outside of these walls?”

IGN: Last week you called Daryl a “big softy” and I think we get to see that very clearly here when he’s feeding the baby. Might we see any more insight into where those parental instincts come from? Is there more to his past that we might not know about?

Kirkman: He’s an incredibly complex character and there’s definitely a lot yet to learn about him. Stay tuned, there’s a lot going on there. We’ll be finding out a lot more about him moving forward, assuming he doesn’t die!

IGN: You mentioned that there would be some interesting stuff to come with Milton, and it looks like we got a few seeds of that in this episode. Can you talk a little bit about his role within Woodbury and what his relationship with the Governor is like?

Kirkman: He’s got a very complicated relationship with the Governor. The Governor certainly sees his purpose and recognizes his importance in the community. But he’s also somebody that pushes the Governor and has an opinion. He’s someone who can be a bit of a nuisance at times. They have a very complex relationship, as I said, but Milton has good ideas. We’ll be seeing more of those as we go forward and I think he definitely is extremely valuable. He’s definitely someone that the Governor leans on quite a bit.

IGN: And finally, Michonne got some serious face time this week and I think showed some great character. She’s off on her own for the moment, but can you offer any teases as to where she’ll be headed next?

Kirkman: All I can say is that you’ll have to stay tuned. She’s a very popular character and we’re certainly not going to leave her off the table for any amount of time. I will say that she’s not going to be roaming in the woods by herself for too very long. What she encounters and how she deals with it is going to be a pretty interesting thing. Who knows what the future holds for that character?

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He thinks  knows the world needs more horror comic books.

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