Melissa McBride, who plays Carol on AMC’s The Walking Dead, discusses her character's revenge on Alpha and alliance with a former foe. 

Q: What’s it been like for you, working on Season 10 of The Walking Dead as one of the original cast members of the series?

A: It’s been absolutely amazing. This might be one of my favorite seasons. It’s also different... it’s really wonderful to have new blood on the show and to be inspired by all of the new people and personalities. It’s really special and very surreal when I think about how I wasn’t even sure if there would be a Season 2 and now Carol is here in Season 10... It really blows my mind. I sit in gratitude all the time.

Q: This season, Carol has been in a push/pull state of wanting to separate from others, while still trying to enlist their help to get her revenge against Alpha. What’s that like for her?

A: She’s really hungry for revenge and to do right by Henry and the others that Alpha and her gang murdered in such a brutal way. It was just outright insanity. The crazy thing of exploring that trauma in this season is the depths that it will take some of these characters and the lengths that they will go to within a traumatized mentality. We saw the post-traumatic stress that Siddiq was dealing with. Carol has blinders on to so much. She’s lost sleep and she went away because she knows that part of herself, but she also had to find some peace. When she came back, she was drawn back in. She wants that revenge, but she also doesn’t want her friends and community to be pulled in. She keeps trying to go off by herself. She doesn’t want her friends to get into it. They’re trying to keep the peace within the borders, but she’s having a hard time and she’s determined to get rid of this nemesis once and for all.

Read More: Why Alpha Is an All-Time Great Villain

Q: She ultimately turns to Negan, who’s caused so much pain, to get the job done. Is it a sign of desperation or does she view Negan differently now?

A: I don’t know that there’s so much forgiveness, but he may have done some things to redeem himself in a way. He may have proven a bit of loyalty to this group. She’s not certain, but this is a strategy. It was difficult for her to not be so forthright with Daryl. Who has the most to gain by doing this deed? I think she thought about who she could enlist. With Negan, he’s been a prisoner for a long time and if he can pull this off, he would emerge somewhat of a hero. It was a great risk on her part because there’s also a bit of uncertainty about whether he would join forces of her, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

Q: Carol finally gets what she wanted and puts Alpha’s head on a spike. Was it important that she mimic the exact same gesture that Alpha did to Henry?

A: I don’t know that exacting revenge was enough for her, but to see her son’s killer’s head on a spike perhaps erases the memory and the visual of his head. She did it and it was displayed for her people to see once and for all. I think that was important.

Q: Out in the woods, we see that Carol is still haunted by hallucinations of Alpha. What’s still got a hold on her?

A: She had someone else’s head in her hand. That’s just not something we do, but it had to be done… in her mind. You wonder who you become. She had to be wondering that. It takes you back to the very beginning of all of these profound changes in Carol and the guilt that she carries. Alpha represents everything that she hasn’t been able to stand about her own self. These are demons and she’s looking at them. Being taunted and haunted by her past and everything that’s brought her to this point where she’s now holding a human head in her hand – it’s just crazy.

Q: In the end, Carol decides to return to Alexandria. Do you think that was a hard choice for her?

A: I think she wants to go make some things right. Maybe this was a catalyst for some necessary healing. It’s going to the underbelly and fighting the demons and emerging to the surface, stronger than you were before. Carol is prone to bolt at times like these, but after she has this experience with this incarnation of Alpha, she does decide to go back. She chose to go back for some reason when she could have bolted.

Read on for Samantha Morton's (Alpha) thoughts on Alpha and Negan's connection.

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