Showrunner Angela Kang also teases a possible opposites-attract romance between Mercer and Princess.
Welcome to the Commonwealth!
And the location may look a tad familiar to eagle-eyed fans of the show.
The Commonwealth on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
Plus, is an opposites-attract romance blooming between stony, silent Mercer and the loquacious Princess?
And who cut that Whisperer’s hand off, anyhow?
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We finally got our first look at this new community of the Commonwealth.
Josh Hamilton on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
So a lot of it really came from the brain of our art department team and the production designer.
Did you all build this set right on your studio lot in Senoia?
It is on the studio set.
Michael James Shaw on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
So it took over the area that used to be the Saviors' compound.
So they tore down all of the Sanctuary sets and that took over that area.
This came into the brain of our writer, LaToya Morgan, I believe.
Brad Fleischer and Ross Marquand on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
We’re showing that they have some technology.
There is this feel of, well, this is like the world.
Which I think is true of any community they’ve come across as well.
It’s almost like the old world, but not quite.
It’s a little glitchy.
It seems like whenever you introduce a new community on the show that Greg Nicotero directs the episode.
That is usually intentional.
And he does such a great job of introducing all the visuals and finding the interesting angles.
So he just felt perfect for this block of episodes.
Yeah, if you read the comics you know where that story goes.
And he’s not just the guy who’s standing around in the imposing-looking gear.
She senses that there’s a real human under there.
The Commonwealth operates on a cash economy and you’ve got debt.
So she’s really saying, “No, you don’t get anything for free here.
One non-Commonwealth question: Who cuts off Keith the Whisperer’s[Brad Fleischer]hand?
Oh, that’s interesting.
We skipped over that moment.
Just because he was with Alpha and this guy was used to, like, rough living.
So I think he’s like, “Oh well, I guess I got bit.
I’ll saw off my hand now.”
At the end of the day, I’ve gotten worse.”
Which is his own kind of a fed-up mindset.
