www.ntnews.com.au Monday, November 18, 2013. NT NEWS. 15

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It’s goreblimeyBy ANDREW FENTON

DAVID Morrissey is relishingplaying the bad guy to itsinevitable gory end.

The Governor on zombiedrama The Walking Deadreceived a true villain’s wel-come at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego.

‘‘Ten thousand people start-ed booing me and I just lovedit,’’ the Liverpool-born actorsays on the line from London.

‘‘I walked to the front of thestage and did a Liam Galla-gher pose in the sense of —bring it on!’’ and the booswent higher and higher. I’venever been booed with suchaffection in my life.’’

Introduced last season, TheGovernor quickly establishedhimself as the character fansloved to hate.

At times civil and charm-ing, he could turn murderousin an instant and was oftenfound relaxing in his zombie-head-filled man-cave.

Last seen gunning down hisown people in the seasonthree finale, he returned lastweek in an episode based inpart on novel Rise of theGovernor, detailing thecharacter’s backstory.

According to whispersabout the upcoming seasonfinale — and judging on pastform — the return of The Gov-ernor spells bad news for RickGrimes (Andrew Lincoln)and his not-so-merry band ofsurvivors at the prison.

Morrissey admits he wasdelighted to make it out of last

season alive. ‘‘I think everycharacter (actor) is surprisedwhen they get to the end ofevery episode,’’ he says with alaugh. ‘‘I love the show andany extra time on it is greatfor me.’’

The AMC series is a ratingsphenomenon in the US,where the season four pre-miere drew 16.1 millionviewers, shattering theseries’ own season three re-cord as most-watched dramain US cable history.

And with an audience ofabout 13 million, it’s morepopular than the vast major-ity of free-to-air dramas, too.

With a nation of bloggersdesperate for information,Morrissey is under strict in-structions not to reveal anyspoilers — although he is will-ing to drop a few hints.

‘‘What we find in seasonfour is a man dealing withthat knowledge that he cansnap in such a violent way,’’he says.

‘‘It’s one thing to be plan-ning to attack what you con-sider your enemy, but to sud-denly be turning on your ownpeople is a different psyche.’’

The 49-year-old was well-known in Britain long beforeThe Walking Dead, starringin quality dramas includingState of Play, Blackpool, TheDeal and Nowhere Boy.

The show’s obsessivefanbase has catapulted Morr-issey to another level of famein the US.

The Walking Dead, SBS2,

Tuesday, 9.30pm