IMDb: Did doing the DVD commentary with other writers and actors give you any new insights into the show?

Dave Erickson: For the finale, it was how much I missed Elizabeth Rodriguez, because, when Liza died, I think it was really upsetting. It makes you wonder what else you could have done in the storytelling to keep a wonderful actor involved in the show longer.

In the commentary for Episode 103, Nick (Frank Dillane) looks at a plane flying through the sky, and you say, “Pay attention. That’s important.” Does that mean there will be a crossover with the web series "Flight 462"?

The hope is that at some point those two stories will conflate. It will be interesting to see if anybody survives the flight and who it might be. But that was a definite Easter Egg in 103.

You mention fan response in the DVD commentary. Did you take that into account when writing Season 2?

Not especially. It’s interesting because I think one of the things that people liked about Season 1 was also what a lot of people did not care for, which was the pacing and the timing. We really wanted to hold on as much as we could to a reality where, if you’re confronted with the living dead, it takes you half a second before you recognize what they are.

According to the show’s IMDb page, the mysterious Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) will be in every episode this season. What can you reveal about the character?

He’s the enigma. He’s a person of affluence. He has resources. He’s incredibly smart, and we’re now stuck on his boat. We don’t know what his agenda is. We don’t know what his plans are. We don’t know why he took a shine to Nick. We don’t really know what he wants from us yet. I think that’s part of the tension for the first few episodes: Who is this guy, and what does he want from us? Can we trust him?

We know from the posters and trailer that the characters are going to begin the season on Stark's boat. What can you reveal about the upcoming adventure at sea?

It’s initially about a group of people, a highly dysfunctional blended family stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean. What we’ll realize early on is that the ocean is not much safer than land. We’ll realize that we weren’t the only people on the planet who had the bright idea to go to sea. True to the spirit of the original show and the comic book, the danger will more often come from humans than it will from the Walkers.

Tobias, who only appeared in the first two episodes, became a fan favorite. Is there any chance that he's floating on a raft near the boat?

I have not forgotten Tobias. I know how popular he is, and Lincoln Castellanos is a wonderful actor and a really great guy. So, I wouldn’t rule out some narrative that involves Tobias somewhere down the line.

Most of Season 1 took place in a contained area. This season, will we see any large metropolitan areas collapsing? We’ve seen some destruction of Los Angeles in the finale last season, and I think there’s a good chance we’ll see some more in the opening of Season 2. The big question for the characters is: Which way are they going to go, and are there any cities left? One of the great things about Robert [Kirkman] and the comic in the original "The Walking Dead" is he doesn’t go to the disaster tropes you would expect. He doesn’t hopscotch across the globe. He doesn’t show major landmarks as they fall. We tried to avoid that in Season 1. We definitely didn’t want to see the Hollywood landmarks. That will hold true in this season as well.

The Season 1 finale was a turning point for Travis, who abandoned his non-violent principles to save his family. How does that impact him in Season 2?

Travis (Cliff Curtis) was the guy, more than any other character, who clung to his moral compass. The problem is his ethics were the ethics and morals of the old world. They weren’t the ethics of the new world. Ultimately he was forced to do the one thing that both Madison(Kim Dickens) and Liza said would break him, which was putting Liza down. He and Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) are going to be in a bit of turmoil going into this new season because, even though the rules of this world justify what he had to do to Liza, it’s impossible for Chris to rationalize the loss. All he can think is, “My father shot my mom.” That’s something the two of them are going to wrestle with for the rest of the season.

Madison, on the other hand, seems to have skills that will be useful in the apocalypse. How will that come into play this season?

We see that there’s a bit of a darker quality and a bit of a violent edge, which Travis doesn’t quite have. You’re going to see a woman who wants to hold on to some degree of civility, but she’s also going to be pushed closer and closer to this leadership role. One of the big questions for the season is: When does the need to lead a group outweigh the need to mother a child or to be true to your love? At what point do you have to think about the greater good?

Nick believes that being a screw-up for his entire life has prepared him for the apocalypse. Is he right?

You’re going to have a character in Season 2 who is very self-reflective and wants to know, “Why me?” when all these other people have died. He will approach the apocalypse in a very different way from anyone else on the show.