'The Walking Dead' showrunner Scott Gimple previews Season 4 second half

The Walking Dead returns with the second half of Season 4 on Sunday night with the first new episode since the midseason finale, in which the Governor destroyed the prison and scattered the survivors to various locations. EW.com has been posting interviews each day with cast and crewmembers of the show in the buildup to Sunday's episode, and the latest offering features showrunner Scott Gimple.

Gimple promised in the interview "answers will come quite quickly." First, the site asked about Hershel's death and the aftermath of the prison attack:

"There were three major deaths that episode: There was Hershel, the Governor and also the prison. Hershel in many ways represented what the prison was, which was civilization. Rick's final philosophy on the prison was taking people in, which is very humanistic. They were growing their own food. They were growing their own community. They were having hope for the future. Hershel's death really symbolized the end of that. There's this practical reality: We do not have fences or walls. But there's also a philosophical reality: We don't have civilization for the future or humanism. Stripping these characters of every piece of safety they have, including each other, that was the point of it. It's boiling things down to an even baser survival. It's getting real with their situation in this world. Forget what had happened to the world. It came for them. These characters will be at their most vulnerable."

Then, EW asked about baby Judith, whose bloody car seat was found in the prison yard, and the news is horrific:

"I'm going to start with the not awesome thing: Judith was a baby in a place with free-roaming walkers, so the math isn't very good there. On top of that, there's things we wouldn't show on television...so there's that. But the awesome thing is that the answers to a lot of these questions come sooner rather than later. These answers will come quite quickly."

Other highlights from the interview include:

-       Tara will probably return.

-       Abraham, Eugene and Rosita will look similar to their comic counterparts.

-       Gareth will be "kind of from the books, kind of not totally from the books" and "comic fans would not know him."

-       Morgan may not be in Season 4 but he will come back at some point.

-       Fans will get answers to the radio signal Daryl heard in the car, the identity of who was feeding rats to the zombies and Rick's decision to exile Carol.

What do you make of all this? Let us know in the comments below.