"The Walking Dead" producers are teasing deadly themes for Season 5.

In an interview with the AMC TV blog, showrunner Scott M. Gimple compared the previous season of the zombie apocalypse drama to the upcoming season. Besides having more of the characters together this time around, Season 5 will also be a bit more cutthroat.

"I would say from more of a thematic place, things are going to get extremely brutal and life is going to get that much more difficult for these characters, but they are together, so they have more support," he said. "They have each other to lean on, and they're going to need to lean on each other quite a bit."

It's not all death and friendship, however; Season 5 will apparently be a season of love -- slightly.

"Love or romance is going to be an element this season," Gimple said. "It's not going to be an element in a huge part of the season, but as we get towards a specific part of the season, it's going to become more of a reality and a complication. Human nature, all the good and bad parts, are things that both complement and compromise survival. Love is part of that."

Greg Nicotero, "The Walking Dead" producer, also confirmed that survival, and what that means is an overarching part of Season 5.

"So definitely in Season 5, Rick will be questioning what it is that you have to do to protect the people that you love, what you're willing to do, and it's really about survival," he told Yahoo TV. "I think that the one word that would describe Season 5 is 'survival.' What's exciting about moving into Season 5 is we continue the exploration into who these people are, and it's thrilling."

Gimple also talked briefly about the first episode of the season.

"We ended on a cliffhanger, and I'm just excited to deliver the answers to the questions they've been waiting all summer for," he said.

Season 5 of "The Walking Dead" begins Oct. 12 at 9/8 c. on AMC.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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