New ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 4 Details Spilled

Although season three still has a few episodes left, the first details about 'The Walking Dead' season four have begun to emerge. A panel for the wildly popular AMC show opened the 2013 PaleyFest and much of the cast and crew was there to discuss what's going on in the show right now and what awaits the survivors in the near future.

EW was on hand for the panel and while most of the Q&A with the cast and crew consisted of questions dealing with current storyline, executive producer and make-up effects artist extraordinaire Greg Nicotero talked about the overall game plan for the fourth season. His words should be music to the ears of fans who think the action-packed season three has been a little lacking in character development:

“I think there may be a wee bit less of the run and gun. And [we'll] get a little more into some of our characters. The challenge with a show like this, when you have a big ensemble, is you don’t want any of the characters to get lost; it’s important that we know what Carol’s story is and that we know what Beth’s story is. And when you’re trying to service a lot of characters, it becomes challenging. Watching the first season of Walking Dead and seeing how grounded it was, that’s really important to all of us. Andy Lincoln and I spent a lot of time going through the scripts and making sure we feel that they’re grounded. Because that’s what keeps our audience coming back. The walkers and the gore and the action and stuff, that’s fun, that’s the popcorn part of it. But if you don’t have characters that people are invested in, you lose your audience.”

Although the response to the third season of 'The Walking Dead' has been generally enthusiastic because of the increased action (unlike the second season, the characters didn't spent the entire season sitting around a farmhouse doing nothing), there's no denying that there's been less emphasis on the characters, especially newcomers like Michonne, who we still know next to nothing about. It's especially interesting that he calls out the first season for being the most grounded and wanting to get back to that considering the ugly behind-the-scenes fallout between original showrunner Frank Darabont and AMC.

As for season three, Laurie Holden (who plays Andrea on the show) said that those thinking the current season will end with a "hopeful cliffhanger" like season two will be in for a surprise: “I would say [the Season Three finale] is the opposite of last year. In every way.”

For more details from the panel, you can click right here for EW's summary of the panel. 'The Walking Dead' season three continues with a new episode tomorrow.