Access Holllywood Q&a: Melissa Mcbride(Carol) Talks About Her Development And Caryl

- - - - - Carol Daryl Caryl

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BURBANK, Calif. -- It’s taken some time, but Melissa McBride’s “The Walking Dead” character, Carol Peletier, has turned into — as co-star Laurie Holden put it in a recent interview with AccessHollywood.com — “a little spitfire.”
After spending Season 1 as an abused wife, and the second as a grieving mother, Carol has had a very different journey this time around in the AMC Sunday night series. She survived a prison section zombie attack, got up the courage to flirt with Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), and rather recently suggested Andrea give The Governor the best night of his life, before killing him as he slept (Andrea, regretfully couldn’t complete the mission).

All the while, Carol hasn’t strayed from having not only a great love for her gang (like when she tried to support Carl Grimes who was still processing his mom’s death), but an understanding of their actions (like when she rationalized Daryl’s exit from the group to go off with Merle, telling Beth he had his “code”).
If Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) is the conscience of the show, Melissa’s Carol is the heart, and that’s probably one of the reasons plenty of fans are hoping to see her character in a proper romance with Daryl at some point in the series.
“I love the Caryl-ers,” Melissa told AccessHollywood.com, referring to the fans’ name for those dreaming of a Carol-Daryl romance. “I think they’re awesome.”
So, yes, we addressed Carol-Daryl as we chatted with the actress about the AMC drama, but first, Melissa shared with Access her thoughts on the potential war ahead between the prison gang and The Governor’s Woodbury people.

AccessHollywood.com: Last time we saw Rick with the group he told everyone they were going to war. Is Carol the warrior yet? How do you think she felt when Rick dropped that bombshell?

Melissa: She’s a warrior, she’s ready to really fight for her people. She loves her Team Prison (laughs). She loves them and she’s gonna fight. It’s the only thing she has left, you know? And she is going to fight to help save everybody. She’s gonna do what she has to do and it’s unfortunate that he called it war, but the world is so, so strange. It’s surreal to hear these things — ‘We’re going to war.’ When you’re little, you’d never think you’re going to hear these words in a conversation, you never think you’re going to be running around with a gun. Well, she didn’t (laughs). It’s just surreal to go through these changes and accept this is what the world has become and this is who I am becoming.

Access: With war on the agenda, this is really the first time Carol [may have] to stand up physically, other than fighting zombies, of course, against other humans. Did you think about that when you were doing some of this — because she obviously couldn’t stand up to her husband [in her old life]?

Melissa: Her mindset is adapting. This is really survival, it’s not like, ‘I can flee when he’s drunk and asleep and I can get out of here, I can go to a shelter.’ This is — there’s nowhere to go. It’s a whole different thing and she really is finding [out] what she’s made of because of this world that’s forcing her to really pull out all the stops and wake up all the sleeping parts of herself or the diminished parts of herself. They’ve got to come to the surface now and I think, as far as, going to war, I think she’s gonna do what she’s capable of doing and Rick may or may not dictate to her — you know, they don’t have a plan yet. So, they gotta figure this out. What is she good at (laughs)? He told her she was a pretty good shooter, sent her up to the tower. You saw what happened there (laughs).

Access: Of course I’ve got to ask you about Carol-Daryl. What do you think of all the excitement from the Carol-Daryl fans out there who are rooting for these two?

Melissa: I love the Caryl-ers. I think they’re awesome and they’re so passionate and hard core and then you have the other group who’s like, ‘Argh! She’s too old for him. No, he needs somebody hot. He needs a bad a**.’ And I just love that little, ‘To ship or not to ship.’ I think it’s great. And all the fan art is lovely and fun and funny and I get a kick [out of it]. I go on Tumblr. I do.

Access: Laurie Holden told me that she thinks it already is Carol-Daryl. You don’t have to have Carol and Daryl makeout for them to be Carol-Daryl.

Melissa: And I absolutely agree with her and I’m so glad that she said that because I think the same thing and I have thought the same thing… Like, look at it this way, they already are, just by virtue of wanting something like the kiss or whatever… But I think people don’t see it that way ‘til there’s a physical confirmation, if you will. But… they’re friends, they care for one another, they nurture one another, there’s an easement between these two, there’s this beautiful room that they give each other and then they call each other out of it they need to. And so, who knows? Who knows what happened or didn’t happen in those eight months that we didn’t see them. They could have already been there and went, ‘Nah, you know, let’s just be pals’ (laughs), or who knows?

Access: Norman always says, ‘I want to play Daryl like he has no game whatsoever and have her make the first move.’ So if there is physical contact to be made do you think Carol has recovered enough from her own abuse to do that — she obviously said, ‘Do you want to go fool around?’ at one point, but to make that touch or something beyond the 18th century style situation?

Melissa: Yeah, I think so and I think a lot of her playfulness and teasing with Daryl is also a way for her to talk herself more into that path — not just with Daryl, but with herself as a woman, to feel that again about herself, to feel that, ‘I’m someone that’s desirable,’ because for so long she didn’t and whether that’s a conscious thing on her part — and I don’t think that it is — I think it’s just sort of that, again, that thing coming to the surface. She’ll throw those little things out there. It’s almost like when you already have an answer to something, but you keep talking about it to someone because you want to talk yourself into it. You know what I mean?

Access: Well, she was damaged for so long. Her confidence was beaten down for so many years. She probably never had to say the kind of things that she would need to say in order to get that physical contact with Daryl because he’s so damaged.

Melissa: Right and it’s probably — it’s very foreign at that point, coming out of her. Even the feeling that, to have gone through what I am thinking that she went through, what I have given her to have gone through would be — you’re almost asexual at some point. There’s no desire. It’s the last thing on your mind. And yet, she’s a woman and there is nothing like — especially in that world — there’s nothing like physical touch. There’s nothing like being hugged or held or just anything as simple as that.



Full interview at the source: http://www.accesshol...e_article_76983

Really enjoyed this interview. She's really cool and love her attitude when she mentions the fans :)
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Awesome article. Thanks for posting.

I love that they consider her the heart of the group. Great insights on the Carol/Daryl relationship.
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Taxidermy bananas lol.

That was awesome, thanks.
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Great interview. Love Melissa!!
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farswell7

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Gahh I love Melissa McBride more and more every single season.

Hope she's here to stay for a long while.
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Matt

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Thanks for the interview :)

I'm really excited at the possibility of Carol getting more focus in Season 4!
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theglassintheguvseye

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Great interview. I love her even more now.
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I'm loving carol recently. With her stronger role ive realized how great Melissa is as an actress. I'm taking funny badass caring carol over bitchy whiny burden carol and I'm pretty sure Melissa is liking where carol is going too. Nice intervirw
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#9
Viridiana

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Carol is a great character which developed so much! And the actress sounds pretty cool too :)
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Thanks for posting this. Really great interview. Just the idea that Carol would make the first move with Daryl is awesome enough but now it sounds like it might really happen. Good for them! Damaged people thriving in the Post ZA! :zombiethumbsup:
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Caryl... sheesh as bad as Bragelina or those other cutesy name splitting/matching stuff. Sheesh. It's the first I saw that and honestly it's too... cutesy, for want of a better word, for this type of show. It's a serious situation. Yeah there's humor sprinkled here and there and that makes it refreshing. Romance sure, people are going to meet and fall in love and get heart-broken. Bromance (another stupid cutesy word), of course, making friends to survive and get through the hell that their world has become. I mean really what's next Glenaggie? Magglenn? C'mon.

If the writers continue the path they've mapped out for her, then Carol will definitely blossom and (while doubtful) I can see her as an aging matriarch of a group/clan/tribe that will dispense advice and wisdom to whatever children (beyond Carl) will come along in the years ahead.
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theglassintheguvseye

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Caryl is a Carol/Daryl relationship.
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CreepMeOut

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Caryl is the name the fans made up for her and Daryl's relationship and I like how she acknowledges it in this interview.
I'm with you guys and hope that we see Carol continue to grow on the the show. I'm not only a fan of Carol but I've become a fan of Melissa McBride. She is so awesome!

Awesome article. Thanks for posting.

I love that they consider her the heart of the group. Great insights on the Carol/Daryl relationship.

I also really loved how they consider her the heart of the group. I've been trying to figure out the right word to describe her place in the group and heart is perfect.
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Caryl is the name the fans made up for her and Daryl's relationship and I like how she acknowledges it in this interview.
I'm with you guys and hope that we see Carol continue to grow on the the show. I'm not only a fan of Carol but I've become a fan of Melissa McBride. She is so awesome!


I also really loved how they consider her the heart of the group. I've been trying to figure out the right word to describe her place in the group and heart is perfect.


It is the perfect way to describe her.

I thought it was funny that she acknowledged the people who say she is too old for Daryl, not hot enough, etc. You can tell she takes a lighthearted approach to it.
Also, the way that she (and Laurie Holden) describe the relationship, it transcends any romantic involvement. Whether they hook up or not isn't that important, at this point in their relationship.
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#15
Matt G

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She said Team Prison so now with the recent Team Rick, Team Speculum I love her lol great interview and I love her development since season one. People thought she was worthless and now loved by many. Top 3 character for me and has been since season one.
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Great. I would like to see her survive season 3 and to be finally upgrated to main cast in season 4. That would be deserved.
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Great. I would like to see her survive season 3 and to be finally upgrated to main cast in season 4. That would be deserved.


Me too :) I think depending on who dies, Melissa and Scott( herschel )are due for an upgrade

If Herschel dies then emily Kinney should take his place in main cast

Now that I think of it I believe carol is the longest surviving supporting cast
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