This week, Melissa McBride, whose Carol seemed to be a whole new character during Season 4, and Andrew J. West, whose Gareth was introduced as a new character last season, dished on what to expect from Season 5 of "The Walking Dead."

In the upcoming season, viewers will see Carol continue to develop from a timid abuse victim to a fighter in the zombie apocalypse.

"I think she's holding up pretty well considering how compounded these events were," McBride told Entertainment Weekly. "It's interesting to see how they're becoming someone new almost under the weight of this world. I don't know how anyone could get through what she's done and not be affected by it. ... Will she want to check out and go, 'Oh this is too much for me,' or will love conquer all and caring for her group and continuing in this world to fight?"

Meanwhile, West is anticipating Gareth's new, yet sure to be complicated, relationship with Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln.

"What's so cool about the way that the relationship between him and Rick is set off in the finale, is that we immediately see some tension between them because you see two characters who are both strong-willed, and who both want to survive and who have histories and ideas about the best way to do that," West told EW. "And right off the bat in that finale, they seem to sort of be at odds with one another."

Before the two's relationship reaches a boiling point, however, viewers will learn more about Gareth's "complex nature."

"When the new season starts, we really start to meet this person who is very complicated and multidimensional," West said.

According to McBride, "The Walking Dead" fans can expect a brand new vibe from Season 5, especially in comparison to Season 4, when many of the main characters were separated.

"It's a whole other different kind of energy when we're all there together," she said.

As producers have teased, Season 5 will also feature different settings, including a lot of time in the city.

"The elements, there's so much new texture, new feel, threats, knowing that they're going back into territories that they were running from," McBride said. "I'm really loving the locations."

Season 5 of "The Walking Dead" starts on AMC on Oct. 12 at 9 p.m.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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