While viewers watched Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) group battle against The Governor (David Morrissey) all last season on The Walking Dead, audiences are now wondering where the antagonist has disappeared to this year.  The producers are well aware of that fact and have commented on the villainous character's current whereabouts, how the fallout from season three has changed him, and if and when we can expect to see him again.  Hit the jump to find out more from Robert Kirkman and Scott M. Gimple's own words.

In speaking with THR, Kirkman and Gimple shed some light on the mystery surrounding The Governor.  Head over to their site for the full quotes, a sampling of which we've provided below.  It's clear that neither Kirkman nor Gimple are shy about their thoughts on whether a character is working or not:

"We've just devoted an entire season to the conflict of The Governor and [new showrunner] Scott Gimple came in and was like, 'You know what? I'm sick of The Governor.' He actually said that. It's not that we don't like that character; it's just that we needed to give that character a break," executive producer Robert Kirkman tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Going right back into that would seem like more retread of season three and that's the thing we don't want to do."

So when can we expect to see The Governor?

"He was never supposed to die in season three; we always knew there was a bigger story with him and taking a break from that story is going to make things more heightened when he comes back," Kirkman explains. "These characters are having real struggles and going through a lot of really bad shit. Viewers are watching this the entire time knowing that The Governor could emerge from anywhere at any time and add another threat to whatever these characters are dealing with -- it adds another layer of tension. We wouldn't be able to do that if we move right into his story."

When he does return, it sounds as if the eyepatch-sporting villain will be quite different than the one we remembered:

"This guy was completely driven by ego and the fact that he lost all this and it drove him to a point where he slaughtered his own people -- this is not a guy who is just going to be able to come back from that. We're going to see a very different Governor when he does come back."

Kirkman continues with more definitive statements that The Governor will return, likely when it's least convenient for the other survivors:

"We like to keep people guessing and he definitely will return this season. Just when you think things are getting to a breaking point, that's when The Governor layer will be thrown in to make things that much more deadly and dangerous. It's going to be a really big, memorable moment in the show."

The Walking Dead airs Sunday night's on AMC.