Now that we are under a “Ricktatorship,” it made me feel like we should honor the actor behind the leader of the survivors of The Walking Dead…

Le sigh…

~M.

TVG – “I’m not the good guy anymore.”

Those words are spoken by The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes during one of several intense conversations on Sunday’s episode of the AMC zombie drama. According to series star Andrew Lincoln, he’s been waiting a long time to hear his character say just that.

Lincoln tells TVGuide.com his favorite part of the graphic novel series that inspired the show was watching Rick devolve from the upstanding sheriff’s deputy to a man willing to do almost anything to survive during lawless, zombie-infested times. That transformation is about to happen on-screen.

“The thing I loved about the second half of the season is that you’re moving in a direction that I think the comic book reached a bit sooner than we did in the TV show,” he says. “With the death of Sophia, something dies in Rick. He has to reevaluate how he’s been viewing the world and how to live in this world. I think he’s moving much more toward Shane’s sensibility.”

That may not be a good thing. Shane (Jon Bernthal) has become a bit of an outcast among the survivors because of his increasingly hot-tempered, erratic behavior (everyone remembers the zombie massacre in Hershel’s barn, yes?), not to mention his continued questioning of Rick’s leadership. Those issues will come to a head in Sunday’s episode (9/8c, AMC), when Shane and Rick venture out alone to dispose of Randall (guest star Michael Zegen), the straggler Rick rescued after the shootout at the bar.

Rick’s decision to confront Shane comes after Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) did her best Lady Macbeth in suggesting to Rick that the group is no longer safe with Shane in their midst. “When [Lori] says, ‘I don’t feel safe; I’m scared’ — that’s enough,” Lincoln says. “But then she also says, ‘[Shane] says that you’re not up to the job.’ That’s enough to push anybody over the edge, even someone as rational and as considered and as smart as Rick. He can’t avoid the issue much longer.”

The former best friends and partners will definitely exchange more than just words with each other. Will they ever see eye-to-eye again? Lincoln says the duo’s history, including Shane’s efforts to keep Rick’s son Carl (Chandler Riggs) alive after he suffered a gunshot wound, complicates matters.

“I’ve always thought that they were like Cain and Abel. They’re brothers but they see the world differently,” Lincoln says. “And Shane saved [Carl]. That’s at the heart of Rick’s dilemma. Sure, there are people who are going, ‘Shane’s an animal.’ But ultimately these people have to stay together to survive.”

But for how long? Many intuitive TV viewers have already deduced that Bernthal’s casting in a new TNT pilot written by former Walking Dead executive producer Frank Darabont could be a signal that Shane is not long for this world.

“Not everybody gets out alive,” Lincoln teases. “We’re not shy of blood, sweat and tears in the last four episodes.”

Does that mean the new, less moral Rick could kill Shane and prove once and for all that he is the right man to lead the survivors? “The whole season begins with Rick talking about this group of people in monologue. ‘Am I doing the right thing? Can I be this man for these people?’” Lincoln says. “And he ends up with an answer. But the answer is not necessarily what you may think it is.

“He loses a lot physically and psychologically and mentally during the next four episodes,” he continues. “He turns into somebody that possibly he never thought he would become. He goes to a place — he’s pushed to a place — that he hasn’t been pushed for a long time. And he’s asked to do things he probably doesn’t wish to do.”

The Washington Post – ‘Walking Dead’ star Andrew Lincoln says even wife doesn’t know answer to show’s big mystery

That’s partly why Lincoln has told no one the answer to what’s become the biggest mystery of the AMC zombie drama: What scientist Dr. Jenner whispered to Rick in the season one finale.

“Not even my wife knows what he whispered to me,” Lincoln said in an interview Wednesday.

Lincoln said that in keeping the secret he feels he is being true to his character in the show.

“He chooses not to tell people so why would I tell,” Lincoln said of the sheriff.

What was said has only been heard by a handful of people, and the mystery has become the object of intense scrutiny by fans.

Lincoln said he realized just how curious people were when a show editor revealed he had scrolled through hours of show footage and listened in on radio traffic to find the only two takes where the brief remarks were audible. The cast says the contents of the conversation will be revealed this season.

Lincoln, who says the comments are “pivotal” for Rick, hints that the message was not good news.

“This is a scientist who seemingly held all the cards to what this epidemic is about and I do think, you know, you would imagine he would have something of value to say on that matter,” Lincoln said. “Well, he chose to kill himself.”

The actor also said that Rick and his ragged group of survivors will likely leave the farm where they’ve taken refuge this season.

“Something happens and they realize very quickly that the farm is not as secure as they may think,” he said.