'The Walking Dead' Postmortem: Melissa McBride Talks Carol's State of Mind, Tobin, Maggie, and Why Carol Started Smoking

Where’s Carol Peletier been since The Walking Dead midseason premiere? Perfecting her beet acorn cookies, apparently. She’s baking up a big batch of the pink veggie nut treats when we finally catch back up with her in “Not Tomorrow Yet,” delivering them with big smiles to all the townsfolk of Alexandria. She’s also sharing a little romance with neighbor Tobin, suddenly smoking, and keeping track of the people she’s killed in a little black journal. In other words, there’s a lot of different feels floating around in Ms. Peletier’s head these days.


Yahoo TV talked to Carol portrayer Melissa McBride to get her take on that great opening montage that felt like a Carol sitcom, the very non-sitcom-y guilt Carol is feeling about all the things she’s had to do to protect herself and her friends in the apocalypse, her new — romance? — with Tobin, why Carol started smoking, and the very harsh state of affairs that has Carol freaking out about Maggie going after the Saviors.

For the last few weeks, viewers have been saying, “Where’s Carol?”
I know! Where is Carol?


She’s back in a big way in “Not Tomorrow Yet,” starting with that opening montage that sort of felt like we were watching a Carol sitcom.
Yeah, that was a strange, fun opening. It was funny, when I was watching the [episode], I thought, “Wait a minute. Is this The Walking Dead?” I had forgotten how that started out. Then I thought, “Is there a commercial on before? Wait a minute, what am I…? Oh, yeah…” And then I started to recognize it, but it was a strange sensation.

Did it feel like that when you were filming it? Did you have that sense that this was a lighter Carol?
No. No, and I think just because… I think it’s her really reaching for the lightness, because the darkness is so profound. There’s peace in the valley, for now. Waking up, thinking that you can bring a smile to peoples’ faces, and just have some bit of normalcy in doing what you love, and also, for Carol, cooking and baking helps her not to have to think about the pain. To me, she is a woman who has a lot of grief and a lot of guilt for the things that she’s done and the people that she’s lost.