Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) - The Walking Dead - Season 2, Episode 7 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

With a full and, I imagine, frenetic day ahead of him, Andrew Lincoln was uncharacteristically calm during our tête-à-tête.

In fact, I struggled to decide whether this was his general disposition, or if he was simply in character. His winning chatty nature, though, held true to the former belief.

The 38-year-old actor, blessed with chiselled features that stood out in Love Actually, Heartbreaker and Made in Dagenham, has been in the industry for close on two decades.

Aside from flexing his acting muscles in the TV shows This Life, A Likeness in Stone, Teachers, State of Mind, Afterlife and The Canterbury Tales, Lincoln started producing (Enduring Love) and directing (Teachers – just two episodes, though).

Despite the substantial number of TV characters he has portrayed over the years, Lincoln admits nothing comes close to his role as Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead, with season three given the green light by TV channel AMC.

“Yeah, there is no relation to any part I have played, which is one of the most thrilling things about it,” offers Lincoln.

With the story based on the comic book series, he says its phenomenal reception took him by surprise.

“The success of the show has shocked and thrilled all of us. It came out of the blue, really. You always hope people are going to watch the show. This is a bit ridiculous and bewildering… and incredibly exciting,” he laughs.

On his scope in the series, which bagged a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series Drama, Lincoln says: “It’s a huge role in a huge show. And the workload is different to most of the other jobs. Usually, I am in a much bigger ensemble.”

Lincoln starts chuckling at his recollection of the first time he read the script.

“It said ‘zombie serial horror’. That was when I phoned my agent and said: ‘Are you crazy?’ Then I read it and loved it. The next thing I knew, we starting making it.”

As for what goes on behind the scenes to make the characters come alive (pun unintended), the actor says: “In the series, you have the survivors and the walkers (aka the zombies). The day begins at different hours, depending on your character. As a walker, you have wigs, prosthetics and your legs painted. Honestly, we have one of the best teams in Hollywood in make-up. But it does mean the actors have to get up at 3am as they spend hours in make-up.

“If you are one of ‘us’, you don’t have any. In fact, they actively take make-up off you because of the storyline and its setting. After all, we are survivors in a zombie apocalypse, so we have to look as rough as possible.”

With the benchmark set in the first instalment of The Walking Dead, what does the follow-up season promise?

“The first season was very linear,” explains Lincoln. “It was very much about Rick dealing with the shock and horror of the new world and finding the survivors. Then he finds his family – his wife and son. And he was focused on finding a safe haven. At the beginning of season two, they realise Atlanta has fallen. They have to find a fort and an army. It is an extreme situation.”

While wanting to maintain the suspense regarding the new season, Lincoln hinted that there will be a few familiar faces making a return and the story will shift to a countryside setting.

With tensions running high and a clash of beliefs reigning supreme, the show’s fans are promised a spellbinding series.

“Shane (Jon Bernthal) starts asserting himself as a viable leader. There is a definite spiralling in the first six episodes. There are also a lot of new characters and a return of old favourites. And there is a comedic twist as well,” he reveals.

On the shoot, Lincoln says it was a joy “and really beautiful being in the woodlands of southern Atlanta”.

“One of the actors had a tick somewhere I can’t really tell you,” he laughs. “Forget about the zombies, we were being eating alive by chiggers (a mite).”

It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, viewers will have no trouble sinking their teeth into this new season.

As for Lincoln, he was dead on the money in playing the male lead and, from the way he waxes lyrical about the show and his character, he treasures his meaty role and the success it has brought him.

• The Walking Dead airs on FX on TopTV on Tuesdays at 9.15pm.