on November 22nd, 2012 | TV

Melissa McBride, who plays Carol on AMC’s The Walking Dead, talks about learning to kill walkers this season and describes how she prepared for her rescue scene in Episode 6.

Q: Last year you told us how eager you were for Carol to get to use a weapon against a walker. Now that she’s a veteran, has it been everything you hoped it would be?

A: It’s everything I hoped for and a lot more. The psychology of it is interesting. My first zombie kill, at the fence, with a crowbar, it was so weird to put one down, that was the first time for me as an actor. It was kind of heart-breaking; I mean you know you have to do it, but always there’s this thought in the back of your mind like this is supposed to be somebody.

Q: Did you do any training to get in fighting shape for these scenes?

A: There wasn’t really practice, it was just getting acquainted with the gun, getting used to if there was any kind of kickback or anything. The difficult thing is if you’re putting down the walker with any kind of instrument in your hands — like the crowbar, or a machete — it has to be so precise, you don’t want to actually hurt anybody. The actors who play the walkers often can’t see much, but we practice those moves lots of times before we do it. Last season I smacked one of the zombies’ hands with a plank of wood, and I was petrified. But she was OK!

FULL INTERVIEW