The Walking Dead star: The Governor would “wipe the floor” with other villains

The Walking Dead has seen its fair share of brutal villains over the years, including the Governor (David Morrissey), Gregory (Xander Berekely), Alpha (Samantha Morton) and everyone’s favorite barbed wire baseball bat-wielding megalomaniac Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who may be the most infamous of all.

Unfortunately, rarely have these fearsome foes been able to interact — usually the last one dies before the new one comes along. But if they did cross over, David Morrissey is pretty sure his character the Governor would come out on top.

Morrissey threw down the gauntlet at the virtual Wizard World. “Out of those villains, obviously the Governor would wipe the floor with everybody.”

Morrissey’s talk also revived the age-old discussion of whether or not Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) is a villain. He definitely posed a serious threat to our group on multiple occasions in the early seasons, though he was never as despicable as his successors.  “What a great actor,” Morrissey said of Jon Bernthal. “I never got a chance to work with Jon, I think he’s a fantastic actor, really great.”

Whether Shane was a proper villain will always be up for debate, but Morrissey thinks that the conflict he generated was a sign of what was to come. “But that dynamic, which started off in Season 1, whether he’s a bad guy… He did some terrible things. That set the tone.”

But Morrissey didn’t lose the thread. “But of the ones mentioned, there’s only the Governor. There’s no competition, come on.”

The Governor was the first major villain in the show to be part of an ongoing storyline, spanning seasons 3 and 4. His desire to take over Rick’s prison by any means necessary led to some excellent television. His best-known moment came in season 4, when he launched an all-out attack on the prison. When he realizes that Rick and his group won’t stand down, he shockingly kills off fan-favorite Hershel. This episode was a high point in the season, reaching 15.76 million U.S. viewers. It’s still one of the highest points the show has ever attained!

Hershel was so beloved that he even made a cameo return in Rick’s final episode, “What Comes After.” Understandably, David Morrissey was worried about backlash for killing the character. “I remember when I first got the script, and I read that I killed Hershel, I thought, ‘Oh, going to Whole Foods is going to be tough.'”

"The important thing I think, as an actor, is you never judge your characters. So you never say to yourself, ‘This is a bad man. Because everything you’re doing, you’re doing for — you think — the good reason. He’s a man that has a town that he’s protecting, that he will do everything he can to protect that town, and he will convince himself that they are for the right reasons."

Ultimately, I don’t think the Governor was the worst villain the show has had, but he set the bar high…or low, depending on how you look at it.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels