The Walking Dead may not only be one of the bloodiest, goriest shows on television, but it may also be one of the longest-lasting as well, well beyond what many may have expected. Season 6 is coming to home release this month, and to celebrate we have an interview with one of the season’s key players, Michael Cudlitz who portrays everyone’s favourite mustache, Abraham.

 Can you tell us a little bit about where your character’s heading in the new season?  Because, for example, Sasha, by the end of the last season, completely lost it.

Michael Cudlitz: Well, yeah, actually, I was talking about this in the panel, a little bit ago.  That PTSD is a serious thing, and I was definitely in the thick of it.  Having experienced loss like never before, like the loss that I had always been afraid of.

But I think, for now, it’s all about the next step, for Sasha.  It’s all about what’s next.  How can I move forward?  What do I have to do, to be able to live?  I can’t die.  I’m not gonna kill myself.  I can’t continue to just kill walkers for every moment of this.

And so, coming to the statement, “I think I wanna die,” as horrible as that was, that was the necessary step to get to the next step after that.  Which, hopefully, is a healing one.

We’re gonna see if Alexandria’s a good place for him to be.  One of the things I’d said – same last year as well, is that – Alexandria’s given Abraham quiet time.  I don’t necessarily know if Abraham thrives in quiet time, with time to reflect, time to think, time to be inactive.

There’s something that is incredibly satisfying, and makes him not only feel useful, but alive, when he’s doing what he is ultimately built to do.  Which is to fight and kill.  What does that quiet time do to him?  We’ll see.

Walkers – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Can you talk a little bit about the upcoming season, in general?

I think that, obviously, we’re still dealing with the integration with our group, into Alexandria, and how that affects all of us.  As Rick says, if we can’t get them to bend to us, we will take them.

And I think we are seeing, potentially, the beginnings of that, with Deanna saying, “Do it.”  But now, as we see in the trailer, is everybody on board?  Does she really speak for everyone?  Is our group all together?  Or is this potential safe zone gonna destroy us?

Do we know how many seasons the show, for how long it’s gonna run?

Forever.

[Laughter]

One day Carl will take over.  He’ll have kids.  And his kids will take over the show. “The Crawling Dead.”

[Laughter]

Like The Simpsons. I mean, right now, we’ve gone through – The book just came out.  Issue 144 just came out two days ago.  We’ve gotten up to about, you know, 90-ish, right?  So we probably have three to four years of material already written.  But in that three or four years, Robert will also be writing three or four years’ worth of new comics.

So, honestly, when I say “forever,” it’s half of a joke.  Because I honestly think that this is, until the world is rebuilt – if ever – there’s still story left to be told. I also have kids that need to go to college.

[Laughter]

So if it goes for 20 years, that’s okay with me.

Michael Cudlitz as Abraham – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Gail said that the writers, at the beginning of each season, the writers sit together and then they kind of think about what kind of issues of humanity they would like to explore in the new season.  So what is the issue that you would like to explore, with this new season?

This season is really a lot about like, you know, we were talking a little earlier, the guys have been on the road, the gang’s been on the road.  They’ve been living this sort of moment-to-moment, never really knowing that they’re fully safe.  They’ve found places they can trust and they can’t trust.  They’ve built these relationships and they’re lost.

And now they’re in a place where there actually is some semblance – some semblance, at least for a moment – of safety.  And there’s moments of reflection, and what happens when you have an opportunity to consider the things that have come, right?

And I think, as Michael was saying as regards to Abraham, some people might not do so well with that and the troubles that they bring.  Other people might thrive in that situation.  So, seeing how Carl reacts, that’s entirely different.

So it’s interesting to see sort of how people will react to that, but I feel like that is really gonna be one of the major themes.

The Walking Dead Season 6 is out now on Digital, available on Blu-Ray and DVD on 21 September.