SAN DIEGO — The Walking Dead isn’t really about zombies. It’s about how ghoulish people can become in the face of a zombie takeover, according to the show’s stars.

At the onset of Season 2, Walking Dead’s heroic lawman Rick Grimes is facing his own struggles with humanity and his need to protect his family, says Andrew Lincoln, who plays Grimes.

“Do you survive at all costs and lose your humanity because it’s the only way to do it, or is humanity — does it have to exist because otherwise you may as well just blow your brains out?” Lincoln asks, referencing his character’s moral dilemma.

It’s a sentiment echoed by other Walking Dead actors, including Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon and compares the hit series to Survivor. “It’s not about a game show, it’s about who’s going to screw over who,” says Reedus in the video interview above, filmed during Comic-Con International last month.

Luckily for the AMC show’s players, that’s a strongly held belief of Robert Kirkman, the creator of the comic upon which the series is based.

“The graphic novel has unbelievable fans,” says Jon Bernthal, who plays Shane Walsh on the show. “There’s an unbelievable loyalty there and I think it’s really great that Robert Kirkman is involved with us. It gives us street cred with the comic book fans so when we do change things from the comic book we don’t get jumped by a bunch of people at Comic-Con.”

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Oct. 16.