‘The Walking Dead’ Star Melissa McBride Talks Carol’s Big Episode

Carol (Melissa McBride) put away her Kitchen-Aid mixer and (once again) let her warrior side come out to play in last night’s bloody episode of The Walking Dead.

The Wolves set their sights on Alexandria in the latest episode and staged an ambush on the community, killing many of the community’s members while Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Glenn (Steven Yeun) and our other survivors from last week were out dealing with the massive walker herd.

In the midst of all the chaos, Carol became the hero the community needed, saving the day by rampaging the the hell out of the uninvited visitors, thereby showing the remaining citizens of Alexandria that she was made of more than sugar, spice and everything nice like she’d been letting on. She also managed to make an enemy of Morgan (Lennie James) in the process, which will be an interesting dynamic to see play out in the future.

Check out what McBride had to say to The Hollywood Reporter about Carol’s “blown cover”, how the citizens of Alexandria will react to this side of her and more.

On how Alexandrians will react to seeing the real Carol in action

Her cover is blown now and I think that’s OK. We’ll have to wait and see how the Alexandrians respond to her and we’ll come to see how they respond to her — and also to having that normalcy that everybody looked forward to. It was so hopeful and wonderful but it only lasted for a few minutes and now that’s been blown, too. That parallels her cover being blown and the idea of that normalcy being blown. That’s now hit home that this is the world you’re living in and the Alexandrians are seeing it first hand. The illusion is coming down all around.

On whether or not Carol will go back to her pre-rampage homemaker routine

“Carol was doing that sort of thing before this happened. It’s twofold — she was playing that disguise but I’m sure there’s a part of Carol that does want that normalcy. Everything she said about being in the kitchen when she was depressed and how it gave her something to think about besides everything that made her sad. There genuinely is a desire to have that feeling again. Then to have that wiped away … that kind of hope that maybe things could be normal — and then she’s seeing the Alexandrians killed and having to put down [Alexandria residents] Erin and Neudermeyer. If she hadn’t had to play this role, they could have been friends.

On Carol and Morgan’s complicated relationship

We’ll explore their challenge and the conflict of each of their mindset and how each approaches survival. Morgan thinks Carol is wrong as much as Carol thinks Morgan is wrong and we’ll see how that turns out. They’ve got interesting stuff coming up together as we explore their mindset and how they approach the world — and what, if any, influence one has over the other.

What did you think of last night’s brutal episode? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC