In iZombie Season 4, Discovery Day has come and gone. Ever since humans found out about the existence of zombies, Seattle has been walled off and travel over the border is forbidden. Nevertheless, life continues inside the city walls -- which means there are still plenty of murders to solve. As always, Detective Clive Babineaux is on the case, with his trusty zombie sidekick Liv Moore in tow. During a set visit, Malcolm Goodwin -- who plays the enterprising Seattle cop -- offered some insight into how the reality of New Seattle has impacted Clive's life. He also discussed the friction between the Seattle Police Department and Fillmore-Graves, Clive's greatest fear, Clive and Dale's human-zombie relationship and more.
As to how the reality of New Seattle has changed Clive's relationship with Liv, Goodwin said, "I think it's obviously they're very close now, the best of friends now, obviously there's a big purpose with the fact that now everyone knows that there's zombies in the world. And the world being walled-up Seattle. Every detective now works with zombies, so we're no longer exclusive in that relationship anymore, so there's an effort for us to show that we're the best -- that we're the best detective-zombie team. It's an element of trust. It's cool how Clive uses Liv being on the brains to help solve cases -- not only the cases, but other scenarios throughout the season. The partnership is as the young kids would say it, 'It's on fleek.' It's just strong. It's very, very strong."
"We can only solve human-on-human crimes. Fillmore-Graves deals with zombie-on-zombie or zombie-on-human crimes," he added. "There's always an initial tug-of-war about who's case this is. Who is the person? Liv can only eat the brain of a human. So, that's been fun to play with detectives on that end vs. detectives on our end. We deal with human-to-human crimes. But, what's interesting is how the cases blend into the serial side of the show so seamlessly. I think this year they did an amazing job with that where it doesn't feel separate. It all feels intertwined, and it feels all balanced, and each case is for the purpose of pushing this bigger storyline. I thought what they did this season with that was just brilliant."
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However, Clive doesn't see Fillmore-Graves -- New Seattle's new overlords -- in as favorable a light. "They are dictators. They have changed the laws, so he has to abide by them," Goodwin explained. "When he sits there and has to recite the new laws, he hates it. I don't think there was a balance between Fillmore-Graves and the police department in terms of what the new rules are. It's kinda these are the rules. You're going to follow them. In return, they will contain and control the zombie problems. Humans still outnumber zombies in Seattle, but we all know at any moment the zombies can say, 'We're just gonna eat brains and go for it.' He doesn't like it and that's a constant back-and-forth, constant tug-of-war throughout the entire season."
Goodwin never expected to see the show hit a point where zombies overrun the city. Asked if this is where he imaged the series would go when he signed on in Season 1, he said, "No man. I'm telling you, if you watch Season 1, there's no way this show would be where it is in Season 4. There's no way. There's no way. The world just blew up and expanded in this massive way. Reading these new scripts and these new storylines and what it really means to have the world know that there's a zombie problem."
"Of course, there's talks of 'Should we nuke New Seattle?' That's Clive's biggest fear. We've got to figure this out before someone's gonna press the button and that's it," he continued. "You also have people who look at New Seattle as a saving grace, as a sanctuary, 'Like, wait a minute, I have a terminal disease, I need to get inside. I'd rather be a zombie than face this terminal fate.' So, you have that entire trafficking, and you have people trying to get out, people who want to get out of Seattle, because they go, 'These 10,000 zombies are gonna turn on us at any second. Any second.'"
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"And, there's also a brain shortage as well. Fillmore-Graves is trying to control that and humans have to trust that Fillmore-Graves has that under control. But, crimes are still happening. There's human-to-human crimes, there's zombie-on-zombie crimes, there's human-on-zombie crimes. Everyone is still trying to keep a sense of normalcy before it goes out of control, because if it gets out of control, there's definitely someone who will press that button and bye-bye New Seattle. And that's Clive's biggest fear," he concluded.
Page 2: Clive's Relationship With His Zombie Girlfriend & More
Goodwin also noted Clive's opinion on the topic of immigration in and out of New Seattle. "The way the law's in place right now, Clive doesn't like what's in place right now. He hasn't really given his opinion on what he thinks should be in place, but what's in place he doesn't like," he shared. "I think he thinks there should be further discussion, but it's creating a problem... You have all these different angles that someone could be taking and Clive thinks there's nothing clearly set and it just creates more potential problems. There's a lot of drama and a lot of consequence that comes out of the decision that's been made so far and Clive doesn't like that."
Discovery Day -- or the moment that humans found out about zombies -- has also impacted Clive's relationship with Dale Bozzio, who was turned into a zombie in the Season 3 finale. "It's drama. It's drama. Poor Clive can't find happiness in his love life. It's challenging. He's pretty much trying to make a zombie-human relationship work, unlike Liv and Major in Season 1," Goodwin revealed. "She didn't make an attempt. Here's an example of what it would be like. He's two people trying to make an attempt and it's difficult. It presents a lot of challenges. The biggest challenge is -- intimacy comes up a lot, but I think the fact that [Dale] has to eat brains, so Clive's eating his Po' boys, he has to incorporate human brains into the food, into her breakfast, lunch and dinner. That's an adjustment. He also dyes her hair and helps her obtain the dye. It does present challenges and throughout the season you see them trying to navigate through those challenges and having to make some difficult decisions in the relationship that makes things even more difficult. I'm still curious to see how it wraps up."
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However, Clive certainly wouldn't become a zombie to save his love life. Asked if Clive would even consider making that move, Goodwin said, "I don't think at all. I don't think Clive would; Malcolm wouldn't mind as an actor. Being on brains and playing personalities, but Clive, no way. The whole brain thing, I think he's still repulsed by it and being a so-called Walking Dead. You know, he's like, 'No judging to anyone else who likes it, but it's not for me.' I don't think Clive would do it. I always say the only way Clive would become a zombie is if it was in service of someone, to save someone. It would have to be something like that. Clive's always been a purpose-oriented person. He'll put whatever he needs or wants; he'd put the purpose ahead of all of that."
Throughout Season 4, Clive will continue to loosen up and let people in. "You know, it's funny. Clive is so serious, so it's always been like from Season 1, Clive loosening up. Clive in the first season thought he was a lone ark, I'm a lone ark, I'm at work, he doesn't know he's at a zombie shop. And then all of a sudden, he gets word, 'Wait a minute, what? Zombie? What?' And he starts to loosen up," Goodwin explained. "I think this is the loosest that you've ever since Clive, because things are crazy. Things are crazy. Since the city is now walled, all the characters dropped their walls, including Clive. Clive was probably one of the last characters show who have really, really dropped their walls and give in. Everyone knows his business with his girlfriend and stuff, so there's no real, major secrets. Everyone has to be on the same team if we're gonna beat this thing and with that it means teammates. You become more revealing. You become more wacky. Obviously, finding out Clive loves Dungeons and Dragons, and Game of Thrones, and The Flash. You find out he has this nerdy side to him and we definitely explore that more. We definitely explore that more this season."
Goodwin also sampled a few brains from the upcoming season. "A fun one was Liv on Hockey Goon brain was pretty fun. Our crew was pretty excited about that. It was at a ice skating rink and everybody wanted jerseys. It was Canuck jerseys, Red Wings and different teams. There's another team. Rose [McIver] can ice skate and stuff, so seeing her being the badass was hilarious," he recalled. "I think there's rom-com brain. I forgot what they call it, but Rose killed this one too. She crushed it. Every scene was funny with her. Everything being out of a romance novel or just -- everything just being out of -- just hyper. It was a fun one. They all blend. We were talking about this the other day. What are the brains? What were they? We've just been moving so fast and so much has been going on."
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As to McIver's skill as a rapper after Liv eats rapper brain, Goodwin added, "Rose is fantastic. In real life, Rose is great. It's been a lot of fun prepping for her. I've been showing her battle raps from TV and some underground rap battles, so she can sound legit. I haven't heard anything yet. I come in on Tuesday and I get to hear it. I'm looking forward to it. At karaoke, Rose is phenomenal. If it's anywhere close to what she does at karaoke, it's gonna be highly enjoyable."
Goodwin also shared his favorite pun from Season 4: "Entire Foods. That was Season 3. Not Whole Foods, but Entire Foods."
Returning Monday, February 26, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, iZombie stars Rose McIver, Rahul Koli, Malcolm Goodwin, Robert Buckley, David Anders, Aly Michalka, and Robert Knepper.