Melissa McBride loves playing Carol on "The Walking Dead" so much that she got teary-eyed while recalling how her character has transformed from a meek, abused wife to a strong, independent, pragmatic survivor on the realm of the hit AMC post-apocalyptic drama.
"It's been the time of my life," the 49-year-old actress told fans at the show's New York Comic Con panel Saturday, Oct. 11, of her experience of portraying Carol, Yahoo TV reported.
She then shared that her line "Look at the flowers" from the series' Season 4 Episode 14 titled "The Grove" - where her character shot the emotionally damaged Lizzie to death - is what people shout at her all the time now.
"It's something I'm so proud of for the character. It's been something I never saw coming, and if I keep going, I'll cry because I love her," the Lexington, Kentucky-born actress explained of Carol as her voice trailed off and got teary.
"It's amazing to work with all these wonderful people, and to be so vulnerable with each other, but also to be vulnerable with the fans... the way you express yourself, we know how much you love [the show]. Thanks, guys," McBride added, as her co-stars Chad Coleman (Tyreese), Danai Gurira (Michonne) and Norman Reedus (Daryl), embraced and comforted her.
In a recent interview with Under The Radar, McBride opened up about how much she loves playing Carol.
"I love this character. I do feel like she's very alive for me. I feel protective of her," she explained. "When I talk about her, I feel like I'm betraying her confidence. So I'm not comfortable talking about her sometimes."
"She's my buddy, and I don't want to tell you what she was thinking or her fears," she added. "She confides in me. I wouldn't say it's exhausting, but there was that time [in "The Grove"] that I felt the most spent. As an actor it's exhilarating in a weird way-a torturous way. I love it."
Carol's comic book counterpart was bitten on the neck by a walker and was later shot by Andrea during her reanimation in Issue No. 42. And McBride is thankful that her Carol is still alive and has become one of the fan-favorite characters on the TV adaptation.
"I've read the comics up to a little bit past where the character, Carol's character dies," she told Comicbook.com. "When I first got the part and I was reading, finding out about the character, I didn't know what they were going to do with it, if it was always going to be verbatim from the comics. I like the way it's turned out. I'm glad that they took a chance on this character and I'm happy that it went in a bit of a different direction."