Can you feel it? That tingling on the back of your neck? You aren't imagining things: The season three premiere of AMC's hit post-apocalyptic drama "The Walking Dead" is now less than a month away. (Season three trailer, new character portraits below)

Based off the monthly black-and-white comic book series written by Robert Kirkman, "The Walking Dead" follows a gang of lost souls just trying to survive day-to-day life in a zombie-ridden wasteland. The first two seasons of the AMC series have been hugely-successful. And after the season two premiere breaking cable ratings records in the 18-49 demographic AMC renewed the show for a third season.

"With the turn of how things are going with the apocalypse, he's opening himself up to people and being respected in other ways and finding reasons to fight for certain people and be apart of a group," Reedus says. "It's a big deal for him. With Shane being gone, there's more responsibilities ... but Daryl doesn't want the responsibility of taking over a group, he's just trying to fit in."

According to oddly-named comicbookmovie.com, "Walking Dead" season one vet Michael Rooker (Merle) is excited, and frankly, surprised as everyone else his character is back for the third season. Rooker clearly relishes working with producer Frank Darabont.

From comicbookmovie.com:

After filming Season one, did you have any clue on Merle's fate?

Honestly? No. I didn't have a clue....and I'm still trying to figure it out. [laughs]

Merle was an original character to the TV Show. How did you go about making this character your own?

The character is my own. I mean, the source material was amazing and I was able to simply tap into my southern upbringing and let the character flow from there. I'm very fortunate to work with such great material and actors and crew...and I think as a result it's been some of the best work I've done in my career.

Merle has a very explicit nature. Has anything you acted out so far made you uncomfortable?

Nah.....I mean being uncomfortable is a good thing for an actor. How I feel as a person can't be allowed to influence all of what I do as a character. And Merle is definitely a character.

The last time we saw Merle, he was a figment of Daryl's imagination. Will Season three's Merle be very different from that "ghost"?

Delusion or not, Merle will definitely let his feelings be known [laughs]

"The Walking Dead" season two Netflix premiere has been announced for Sept. 30. "The Walking Dead" returns to TV Sunday, Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. on AMC.