New York City’s 92nd Street Y has hosted many of today’s most acclaimed writers, artists, and performers. And on Monday, February 8, the 92Y will welcome the cast and creators of the twenty-first century’s most popular television show, The Walking Dead. With the second half of the show’s sixth season arriving next Sunday, February 14, the show’s midseason finale will be screened, and executive producer Scott Gimple and stars Lauren Cohan, Steven Yeun, Michael Cudlitz, Melissa McBride, and Danai Gurira will participate in a conversation with fans, moderated by Kimberly Potts. We just caught up with Gimple to learn what awaits attendees at the event (for which tickets can be purchased here), and to get a preview of what awaits Rick and the gang as their adventures continue this season…

Nerdist: Will fans at the 92nd Street Y get some tidbits about The Walking Dead‘s midseason premiere when you and the cast appear ?

Scott Gimple: Absolutely. There will absolutely be tidbits. [Laughs.] We’re gonna show the first four minutes. That’s worth the price of admission right there. I can tell you. In the season premiere, Greg [Nicotero] and crew, makeup and special effects-wise, set a record with the amount of work that they did. With episode 9 they broke that record. I think that probably says a lot in and of itself.

N: So, more epic than not?

SMG: Oh yes. Much more epic than not. It’s a different kind of epic. But it is up there on the epic scale. It’s remarkable work by Greg, directing the cast and the crew. This was no easy enterprise, and the results were remarkable.

N: What prompted your decision to appear at the 92nd Street Y?

SMG: We were just thrilled that we got a chance to speak there. I mean, I’ve been hearing about the 92nd Street Y — I grew up in New Jersey, and spent a good portion of my life there. It’s something that I’m very privileged to be able to speak at. There’s so many amazing people who have had panels there, had interviews there. I’ve watched a bunch of them online. I don’t know if there was some sort of mistake [laughs], but we’re taking advantage of it. I feel very lucky that we’re able to do that. It’s a very big deal. It’s very intimate. That’s one part of it that makes it special, because you’re able to interact with the fans and answer their questions and hopefully shed some light on some areas that maybe they haven’t heard about or thought about or seen. So this is unbelievably cool and I think it’s gonna be a very, very fun evening.

N: What can you tell us about the new characters we’ll meet?

SMG: Other the fact that there are gonna be new characters? [Laughs.] There are gonna be new places. That’s probably one of the biggest things about this season. We have these billboards up that say “A Larger World,” and there’s a whole arc in the comic that we have that title from. The world does become larger. It becomes much more than the survivors thought it was. That’s a huge part of our story. So there’s gonna be a bunch of new characters and there’s gonna be other situations, other people, other place that we’re gonna visit, and see other parts of the world we haven’t seen before.

N: How would you describe the back half of this season? Is there a word that summarizes it?

SMG: What I would say is varied. It’s a varied tone. I know we say this all the time, but things tend to get worse. [Laughs.] It’s some of the darkest material we’ve ever done, and also, oddly enough, some of the lightest material we’ve ever done. There’s some gentle moments, there’s some kind moments. There’s some moments of levity. And then there’s some of the darkest stuff we’ve ever done. And my hope is that the audience doesn’t see it building until it’s suddenly built.

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