Steven Yeun may be a "The Walking Dead" star now, but he was walking down a different route almost 10 years ago.

In an interview with Chicago Sun-Times' Chicago Splash, Yeun, who has played fan favorite Glenn Rhee since Season 1 Episode 1 (with a voice appearance), was considering going to medical school in 2005. Instead, he chose to move from Michigan to Chicago to study improv at The Second City.

"Coming from the Chicago school of thought, [improv] isn't necessarily meant to be comedy," Yeun said. "It's just truth and honesty. The comedy comes from committing."

Indeed, "The Walking Dead" is far from a comedy. In fact, the 30-year-old actor is surprised that Season 5's gore will be permitted to air on AMC.

"We're definitely going for it," Yeun said of the upcoming season. "We're coming back with bruises and cuts and dings. We just finished a pretty intense week [on set]. We've done some stuff in the last couple weeks where it's like, 'Man, I can't believe we're going to show this on television.'"

Glenn has done a good job surviving the past four seasons, giving Yeun a chance to formulate his own zombie apocalypse survival plan.

"I'd find some good friends," he shared. "So worst case is you're holed up, but at least you're not surrounded by people you don't like. If you go, you go. If you're not with people you want to be with, then maybe just get bitten. Maybe it's awesome."

Season 5 of "The Walking Dead" beings in October.

"[Season 5 is] definitely not mirroring [Season 4's structure] completely," Scott M. Gimple, the show's showrunner, dished last week. "... I will say there's some slightly familiar structural turns, but for the most part, yeah, it's gonna be brand new -- brand new versions of the comic story."
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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