'Walking Dead' Star Andrew Lincoln: on whats to come

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in 'The Walking Dead' Season 4 episode, 'Indifference.'

'Walking Dead' Star Andrew Lincoln: The Most Controversial Episode We've Ever Done Is Still to Come!

Andrew Lincoln speaks to Yahoo T.V Sun, Dec 1, 2013 2:57 PM PST

The First Half of Season 4 involved  Eight episodes of new zombie threats, an infection that threatened to wipe out the entire prison group, and a bitter rivalry with the Governor comes to a head in the "Walking Dead" midseason finale.

Series star Andrew Lincoln, who finished filming Season 4 last weekend and is back home in London reading movie scripts before he heads back to begin Season 5, talked to Yahoo TV on Thanksgiving eve about this season’s unique storytelling formats, and what promised to be a shocking and sad midseason finale.

He also hints that the second half of the season, which premieres in February, is even more of a departure from storytelling of the past, and teases that it features an episode he considers the series’ most controversial ever.

Before the Season 4 premiere, you told us that the midseason finale, which airs this weekend, was the most ambitious episode the series had attempted. Do you still feel that way?

I've just done the season finale, so I'm not so sure anymore. [Laughs.] This is quite a big episode coming up. But then I think from this episode onwards, it spins off into a different orbit, the show, which for everybody concerned has been thrilling. It's so neat that we've just … [viewers] don't get to see it obviously until next year, but the season finale is just, it’s so clever what [showrunner Scott Gimple] and the writers have done. It's just really clever.

We do have a tendency to try and up the ante. I will say that the story, as you can tell from the structure of the first seven, the Governor and our people are about to meet proper. I really can't go into great detail, but it is probably the biggest we've attempted in every aspect, the midseason finale. Saying that, the last episodes this season, I'm still recovering from. But I do think loyal fans of the show won't be disappointed by this midseason finale. I think it's a showdown that we always promised. I think this time we certainly deliver....

Certainly you've identified something that needs to be addressed, and fear not. I think you won't be disappointed. I really don't want to spoil anything. But I will say that I was in my trailer with a few of the actors — Norman [Reedus] and Steven [Yeun], and a few others. I won't mention too many names, because obviously you'll know who may or may not be alive. [Laughs.] But we were so excited, because there's so much drama this season. There were so many open-ended, extraordinary storylines that even our mouths are drooling at the prospect of what's going to happen in the future.

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) in 'The Walking Dead' episode, 'This Sorrowful Li …

I think that's been one of the most satisfying things, shooting this season, is realizing that Scott, who is orchestrating all these 16 hours, has really gone to town with the most dramatic combination of characters and circumstances, because you can tell he loves the story. He's honoring, as a fan of the comic books, some of the most extraordinary and challenging and controversial story arcs in the comics, and playing them out in a new fashion in the TV show. So rest assured, Rick's call with Carol … it’s there.

You are less than a week out of finishing Season 4. How do you feel?

[I’m in] an incredible place. It's relief, mixed with sadness, mixed with excitement, because we now know the full shape of the season, and it's an extraordinary season. It's one of the most exciting and diverse and bold and brave seasons we've done since the first. Also, it's a tough seven and a half months. It's strange how, instantly, you get back a couple days and have a couple of good nights' sleep, and you start missing it. It's such an intoxicating job, and also the people … a lot of them have been on it for four years, as I have. We've got this incredible bond. Also, it's made all the more exciting by the fact that the world is watching it as it goes out. It's a real thrill ride, actually.

Before this season, you mentioned there was an exciting and very interesting new way the stories were going to unfold. We’ve seen what you were talking about, with episodes that have focused in on certain characters. What did you think when you first heard this was how the story was going to unfold?

I was thrilled. I think it's bold, and I think it's a necessarily thing. We're four years into a show. We've been blessed with incredible [ratings] throughout those years. I think we owe it to the fans to change it up a bit. One of the things that attracted me to the project was always the fact that it was a story that kept changing. Not only the cast keeps changing and recycling and moving forward, but the story. It's a very, very smart move by Scott and the writers and AMC to do this. As for me, reading the script, and I hope the audience has the same reaction, I was always behind. It was always ahead of me. I couldn't second-guess it. I think that that's a brilliant sign that the writers are still able to do this at this stage in the show.

I will stress this as well. You haven't even seen the half of it yet. The back eight is more radical than ever before. It's almost a tale of two seasons. It really is that radical, the difference between the first eight and the back eight.

The show is always incredibly intense, and while it’s hard to believe we’re already almost through eight episodes, so much has happened, so many huge things, that it feels like we've seen 20 episodes.

I'm glad you say that, because we wanted to get the balance between action, horror, and character. There was anxiety when we were filming it: "Are we slowing it down too much? Is there going to be enough of that?" But then you realize just in the first two episodes how much you learn about characters that have been in the show for maybe a couple of seasons. The storytelling and the character development by the writers this year has been magnificent. I'm so thrilled you say that, because I feel the same way. I feel that so much is learned.

And really, trust me, I think that three of the strongest episodes we've done this season are yet to come. Probably four. There are two episodes that I absolutely adore in the back eight, one of which I think is going to be the most controversial episode that we've probably ever been involved in, and that's saying something. [Laughs.]

“The Walking Dead” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.