Exciting news as we get our first glimpse of British actor David Morrissey (State of Play, South Riding) in his role as the formidable ‘Governor’ in season 3 of The Walking Dead.

The character of ‘The Governor’ was first introduced in Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels of which the series is based on. Morrissey’s character is the vicious leader of Woodbury who becomes Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) greatest foe as he comes up against the survivors of a zombie apocalypse.

Robert Kirkman told TVGuide: “Having The Governor in the mix is going to fundamentally change the show in all kinds of awesome and exiting ways. And David Morrissey totally rocks!”

After the season 2 finale Kirkman reassured fans that the character would remain true to the comic book creation: “The Governor in the show is definitely going to be The Governor in the comic,”

“I think that he’s definitely going to be a character that people love to hate and are absolutely entertained by, but also somewhat terrified of. He’s definitely going to be a very important character and a very nuanced character. We are not going to be watering him down.”

Season 3 of The Walking Dead is currently in production in Atlanta and will return for a 16-episode run on AMC in the Autumn in the US, and will follow in the UK after where it airs on FX and Channel 5.