'The Walking Dead' Season 4 Spoilers: Premiere Date, Casting, New Characters, Showrunner

Fans are in The Walking Dead off-season, but that just means it's time for rumors, spoilers, and news from the hit AMC show. After season 3's success, there is plenty of pressure on season 4 to continue its ratings dominance. The cast is currently filming for season 4, which is set to premiere in October of 2013. The show also has a new showrunner, its third in three years. Writer Scott M. Gimple will be taking over for Glen Mazzara. So what will happen in season 4? Keep reading for the latest spoilers and rumors.

Executive producer Robert Kirman talked with The Hollywood Reporter about season 4 and the changes that come along with new showrunner Scott M. Gimple. "It's a much more character-based story," Kirkman told Hollywood Reporter when describing Gimple's style. "It's going to be more focused on who these characters are and what they're going through.  Kirkman continued by saying that the characters will be a much larger focus in the new season. "To a certain extent, we got away from that a little bit in season three," Kirkman said. "Coming into season four, we're definitely going to know a lot more about these people so it will be that much more gut-wrenching and worse when we lose these characters."

Kirkman also revealed a little bit about where season 4 will pick up. "There's going to be a bit of a time jump," the executive producer explained. "Some time has passed between season three and season four. It's only a few months, we're not nailing down the exact number of days or anything like that. The prison that we see is a very different prison and the characters that we see are very different from the last time we saw them."

There also has been a lot of talk about the new characters showing up in season 4 of The Walking Dead. According to SpoilerTV, two new recurring roles were being cast. Single mother and former nurse Laura and a funny woman named Melody.

Keep checking Mstars for the latest season 4 The Walking Dead news, rumors, and spoilers.