It's no secret that The Walking Dead season 3 will mark the return of Merle Dixon, the racist zombie-killing redneck, played by Michael Rooker. His return has been teased in several clips for the show, and on magazine covers, but we've yet to see how the reunion between him and the group that abandoned him will go down.

Obviously the most important connection Merle has with the group rests with his brother Daryl – the arrow-slinging renegade of Rick's band of survivors – but how he'll react, and more importantly how the group will react, is unknown. While we don't know exactly how that reunion will take place, it has been revealed Merle is holed up with the Governor in Woodbury, and stars Michael Rooker (Merle) and Norman Reedus (Daryl) give their guesses as to how the meeting might play out.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reedus hypothesizes that Merle is going to be "pretty pissed off" when he sees the group that left him for dead, but Rooker blows that assertion off saying, "I'm always pissed off." Last Walking Dead viewers saw, the elder Dixon brother had his hand...er, handcuffed to a pipe with no hope of escape. But Merle's new weapon gives viewers some hints as to how he got free.

It's fair to say that after having to remove one's own hand, that Merle has every right to be "pissed off," and we'd expect nothing less from any character played by Rooker. Whether or not we'll learn how, exactly, Dixon transitioned from being trapped in Atlanta to residing comfortably in Woodbury has yet to be revealed, but eager fans can surely fill in the blanks.

The presence of Merle also signals a major departure from The Walking Dead comic books, something creator Robert Kirkman has already mused on extensively. While the unresolved nature of Rooker's storyline suggested it wasn't the last audiences had seen of Merle, his return is going to make for some juicy plot points in the forthcoming third season.

The Walking Dead - Merle Handcuffed to Pipe

To add a little more fun to the proceedings, both Rooker and Reedus discussed how they're real-life selves would deal with a zombie apocalypse. Reedus surprisingly revealed that he would most likely be hiding, to which Rooker replied, "And I'd come find you." Brothers only by onscreen blood, the two have clearly formed a bond on The Walking Dead set.

How would you like to see the group encounter Merle in The Walking Dead season 3? What do you think of the Merle's weapon of choice?

-

Source: Entertainment Weekly