Warning: There are major spoilers ahead. 

"The Walking Dead" returned to AMC Sunday night in excellent fashion.

Creator Robert Kirkman promised the first six minutes of the premiere would be brutal and the show delivered.

Last warning to head back before spoilers.

At the episode's start, we see Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) ripped from the train car they were locked inside at the end of season four and dragged into a slaughter house to be killed, cleaned, and torn apart for eating.

You read that right. As many predicted, season 5 introduced audiences to cannibals.

The four are lined up over a trough with others as they are violently hit with baseball bats one by one before their throats are sliced to drain.

The scene was the most terrifyingly brutal opening for the show yet and a difficult one to watch (especially if you had recently eaten dinner).

On aftershow "The Talking Dead," the episode's director Greg Nicotero broke down the making of the scene saying it was actually inspired by a famous scene from 1979's "Alien" where a chestburster alien pops out of Kane's (John Hurt's) chest.

"[Director] Ridley Scott they had blood tubes hooked up and nobody knew what was going to happen," said Nicotero. "When they rolled six cameras and Veronica Cartwright gets hit with all the blood, all those reactions were real."

Similarly, Nicotero says when filming the trough scene for the premiere episode, the scene was kept under wraps from the actors. 

"Steven, Andy, Norman, Lawrence, none of those guys really knew what it was going to look like and what was going to happen," explained Nicotero. "So when the guys were struggling and they came up and slit the throat and we sprayed the blood they all reacted. It was like, all of a sudden they heard the blood hitting the trough and starting to wash down in front of them."

"When I yelled cut, they went 'Oh my God,'" he added. "It was shocking."

As brutal as the scene looked on screen, Nicotero who also serves as the show's executive producer and special effects makeup artist said the scene was a blast to prep and film. 

"As ridiculous as it sounds, we had a great time shooting that scene. It was really fun to do," said Nicotero.

He explained the intricate preparation that was involved in making the scene look so lifelike. Again, like "Alien," a lot of practical effects were used. 

"We came up with this ingenious rig," explained Nicotero. "We just put a tube around the actors' necks with a feed tube up the back that we would pump the blood through."

"Usually we'll put a prosthetic over the top to mask it but in this instance we had the visual effects team erased the tube. So you had practical blood squirting out of a tube and then visual effects would erase the tube. We were able to use real blood [as opposed to CG]. I mean, real movie fake blood."

You can check out the first four minutes of "The Walking Dead" season 5, which were revealed at New York Comic Con, below.

SEE ALSO: Why "The Walking Dead" casts so many actors from HBO's hit show "The Wire"

AND: Why "The Walking Dead" doesn't use the word zombie

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Earlier this year, Archer creator Adam Reed announced that Sterling Archer and the gang were going back to ISIS, their non-governmental spy agency, when Season 6 begins. In the meantime, the jihadist state ISIS (or ISIL or IS) started making headlines around the world for their brutal and inhumane tactics. So it is without a whole lot of surprise that the hit FX series is dropping the “ISIS” name from the series completely. 

Though there is an ample opportunity for Archer’s animated world to react to this in a big, bold, satirical manner, viewers might not even notice the acronym’s excision from the show. At some point in the premiere, two movers are seen in the background, rolling the big blue ISIS symbol out of a room as Malory Archer (Jessica Walter) speaks to her son on the phone. That will apparently be the show’s only reference to its former moniker. Executive producer Matt Thompson explained to The Daily Beast the decision behind keeping it short and simple. 

"It’s just the most awful thing, and we didn’t want to have anything to do with it. There were people online saying that we should address it and say, ‘Oh, I can’t believe these guys have co-opted our name.’ That’s the way South Park would do it, coming after them and saying, ‘These assholes stole our name,’ but that’s not the way the Archer universe works, where it’s all our own creations. In our universe, they don’t exist.”

I’ll buy into that. Archer is a show known for taking jabs at general ideas about government agencies and political ideals, but Reed doesn’t often target specific real-world incidents. It was somewhat fortuitous that, as the group ISIS first adopted that name in 2013, Reed had taken Archer’s characters off on a new Vice storyline that involved them selling coke to try and keep their lifestyles afloat after the agency ISIS got shut down. Apparently Reed and FX were paying attention to the news at the time. 

"We were waiting for it to go away—at least I was. Back in Season 5, FX said, ‘This might be a thing,’ and I thought, ‘Maybe it won’t be? Maybe it’ll be the mole that I’m gonna ignore and nothing will happen.’ We got sort of lucky and could organically make a merger with the CIA, so we went back and retroactively painted out the ISIS logos in parts of the show, and we just don’t talk about it in dialogue."

So do we get to see Krieger, Pam, Cheryl, Cyril and Lana legitimately working for the CIA for the next two seasons? There’s something about these misfits serving as employees of the actual U.S. government that makes me wonder if we wouldn’t be better off with them working with ISIS. 

Archer Season 6 will presumably debut in January 2015.

SEE ALSO: The Only 10 New TV Shows Worth Watching This Fall

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In case it wasn’t already abundantly clear from the fact that it got a Season 6 renewal before its current season even started, "The Walking Dead" Season 5 premiere ratings prove that the AMC drama series isn’t going anywhere soon. 

Sunday night’s episode (read Dave’s recap here) drew a series high 17.3 million viewers, besting its previous record of 16.1 million viewers for the Season 4 premiere by over 1 million viewers.  Moreover, in the all-important 18-49 demo, the episode notched an 8.8 rating.  By comparison, that’s nearly double the highest rating for any entertainment programming last week, as "The Big Bang Theory" scored a 4.5 rating in the demo on CBS.

Even if you’re not a fan of The Walking Dead (and I’m really not), you have to admit that these numbers are insane. 

In an age where more and more people are consuming television from a variety of different platforms on a delayed schedule, the fact that a basic cable show can pull in these kinds of numbers is staggering.  Watch a sneak peek for next week’s episode after the jump.

SEE ALSO: The Most Terrifying Scene In ‘The Walking Dead’ Premiere Was Inspired By 1979's 'Alien'

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"The Walking Dead" season 4 ends on an iconic line from the comic series.

Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln, and a group of survivors are reunited after being kidnapped and thrown into a railroad car by others. 

The group isn't fearful for their lives. Instead, the camera passes over the trapped characters before stopping on Rick and slowly zooming in before he delivers the line, "They're screwing with the wrong people." 

In the comics, the line is less TV friendly and delivered under slightly different circumstances: "They're f------ with the wrong people."

The line was filmed as such and is available for diehard fans on the Blu-Ray release of season 4.

During Saturday's New York Comic Con panel a fan asked both Lincoln and series showrunner Scott Gimple why the line was changed for television.

The simple answer is that the cable television show couldn't air the word due to strong language and Gimple didn't want the last line of season 4 to be censored.

Gimple showed the audience how the line would have sounded delivered on AMC if they kept in the curse word.

"It could have been, 'They're (pause) the wrong people,'" said Gimple. "You all are looking at me like it's weird. It would have been weird. 'They're (pause) with the wrong people.'"

Panel host Chris Hardwick elaborated that Gimple was pausing to demonstrate AMC cutting sound from the episode rather than "bleeping" it.

"[It would have been] the last line of the season and I think people would have been hitting their sets like Homer," added Gimple. "We did know that we were going to be able to do it on the Blu-Ray. Andy Lincoln can say screwing in a way that frightens me."

Lincoln, Gimple, and series director and executive producer Greg Nicotero then expanded on the line swap more. 

"I only gave one take of the actual screwing line because I refused. I just went, 'No, that's the way they say it in the script," added Lincoln. 

"Oh, yeah. That was my own mistake. I put f------- in the script," said Gimple.

"We get outlines and then we get the scripts," explained Nicotero. "In the outline Scott had written it, you know, 'They're f------ with the wrong people.' And I said, 'We have to shoot it. We have to find a way.' We actually, for a long time, experimented with how much we [could] dip the word so we can still say it."

Hardwick jumped in to say how strange it is that "The Walking Dead" can show copious amounts of blood, guts, and violence, but not a swear word before moving on to the next audience question.

"Isn't that kind of weird though that this is the way that television works now? And it's not their fault," said Hardwick. "It's not the network's fault. It's just the way that you can show another guy rip another guy's throat out with his teeth [a reference to a scene from "The Walking Dead" season 4], and you're like, all right but no swearing!'"

"Kids have the internet anyway now, so f--- it," he added.

You can watch the uncensored clip seen on the Blu-Ray here.

SEE ALSO: The most terrifying part of the season 5 premiere was inspired by 'Alien'

AND: Why "The Walking Dead" casts so many actors from HBO's hit show "The Wire"

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Netflix stock was tanking after third quarter earnings showed the streaming service delivered fewer subscribers than expected.

During Netflix's Q3 earnings call, CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings made the case for online streaming saying "internet TV is going to be everything in a couple years."

"Everything that we're seeing is completely consistent with the whole society, not only the US, but around the world, is moving to Internet video and internet television," said Hastings. "We saw Starz a week ago announce that they're doing an internet video service. We saw HBO. Perhaps there will be other providers over the next coming weeks."

Hastings added that big television networks are moving to internet video. 

He also commented on Time Warner's announcement about HBO offering a stand-alone streaming service in 2015 and how it will impact the streaming site from a competitive standpoint.

"On the consumer side it's one more channel. Already consumers subscribe to us and Hulu and Amazon and they do Pay-Per-View and they do DVD and they do cable. Consumers subscribe to many of these," said Hastings. "Theres's not much of a change in the direct competitive landscape. We and HBO have completely different content. I don't think it will be a significant impact at the consumer level. As we bid for content that's more significant."

SEE ALSO: Netflix crashes after earnings

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One of the most interesting aspects of NBC's "Hannibal" is the incredible amount of attention paid to the meals prepared by the show's titular character. We all know Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a cannibal, but the series presents his obsession in a new light by focusing on the fact that the man is a master of the culinary arts as opposed to a human-eating savage.

While the show gets gory, the scenes showcasing food are so well shot and mouthwatering that they resemble culinary masterpieces prepared on the Food Network.

"Hannibal" doesn't return to NBC until next summer, but as shooting begins this month for season 3 in Europe, Business Insider spoke with the show's food stylist, Janice Poon, to get some insight on how it's decided what food will double for specific body parts in Hannibal's unconventional, exotic cuisine. 

"I can either rely on my feeble understanding of anatomy or I can ask Dr. Google what the dimensions are, what the skeletal structure is ... just the general appearance and then I think, okay, what in the grocery store looks like what I'm looking for," Poon tells us. "It doesn't always have to be meat ... sometimes an eggplant will look like what you're looking for, like a wrist or something. Then you have to know the bone structure. It's got a tibia, but I need a fibula, or maybe it's the other way around."

Poon says preparing for an episode usually involves getting a simple rundown from series showrunner Bryan Fuller and receiving input from celebrity chef José Andres.

"A lot of times, I'll get a late night email from Bryan saying 'We need a recipe for a leg, what can we do with this leg?'" Poon tells Business Insider. "I don't think this is a spoiler of any type, in an upcoming episode Hannibal will be eating somebody, and it will be a leg. They had this idea going around in the writer's room that they wanted to do a kind of a hallucinogenic evil witch thing, so they wanted to do some sort of candied meat. I don't know if they just put words in a hat and pull them out and say 'Ok, candy. Ok, meat' and then email me, but it sure seems like it."

Poon says it's not always easy to convince the showrunners that her ideas will work. She once had to send a photo to showrunner Bryan Fuller to get the go ahead.

"I remember there was some doubt as to whether this shank that I was preparing would actually look like a cow's leg, so I put a sock on it and a shoe, put it up against my leg and took a picture and emailed Bryan, and they bought it," Poon said.

Poon says it helps to have a "very, very cooperative butcher or a guy at the abattoir is key, too." She prefers shopping at ethnic markets, where she gets "different cuts that you wouldn't get at your local grocer."

Due to the volume that Poon goes through during shooting one scene, she says she tries to get something that's easily available.

"Something that I can get from a butcher where they're not going to say 'Well what are you going to use that for, that's not how you cut it!'"

Below is one of Poon's sketches from the very first episode of "Hannibal," when she was tasked with preparing a meal that featured a human lung. She added tomato toast, onions, mushrooms, and grilled baby tomatoes with herbs to balance it out.

Poon recalled that "pork organs are almost exactly the same size and shape as humans" and used this knowledge to prepare the meal. "There's a loveliness about [the lungs], but of course there's a grisliness too."

She succesfully turned this:

... into this:

By episode 2, Poon had to figure out how to turn a pork loin into a delectable dish consisting of a woman's thigh meat.

Here's Poon's sketch for episode 2, which consists of the "thigh" slices, caramel shards, a glazed apple wedge, mushrooms and gorgonzola 

According to one of Poon's many blog posts, she consulted her niece, a phsyiotherapist, to get the proper dimensions of a thigh bone, which she then cross-referenced with "Dr. Google" as seen below.

On the show, Hannibal served up the finished meal to FBI special agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne).

Bon appétit!

Poon says they like to aim for a balance between appetizing and nauseating when creating dishes.

"I want to maintain that underlying threat, I think that's the key goal, to make it right on that knife edge of really appetizing and really scary. It's like that excitement of 'I'd love to eat it, but will it kill me?' While shooting my favorite thing to hear from the crew is 'Oh, that looks disgusting, can I try it?' That's the reaction I'm going for — something that is so alluring, just like Hannibal himself. We know he's a monster, we know that he's just the worst imaginable person, but we love him and it's inexplicable, so that's what I'm going for, too."

SEE ALSO: 'Hannibal' Is The Best TV Show That No One Is Watching

SEE ALSO: AND: Why no one is watching NBC's excellent "Hannibal"

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Robert Herjavec is one of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in the world.

He sold his first company BRAK Systems for $100 million to AT&T, and another one for $225 million to Nokia. His current company, The Herjavec Group, is Canada’s largest IT security company, with more than $150 million in sales.

Although he may not be a household name, Herjavec is now a popular TV personality, too, thanks to his role on ABC’s reality pitch show, “Shark Tank.”

Unlike some of his counterparts on “Shark Tank,” Herjavec is known for making more shrewd investment decisions, and trying not to instigate as much tension as Mark Cuban or Kevin O’Leary does on the show.

Business Insider had a chance to meet with Herjavec this week, when he was in town for FinancialForce.com’s Community Day event. He revealed his relationship with the other judges, especially with Mark Cuban, and his thoughts on running a successful business.

Here’s what Herjavec had to say (the interview has been slightly edited):

Business Insider: What was the best and worst deals you’ve done so far on “Shark Tank”?

Robert Herjavec: The best for me has been Tipsy Elves. It’s just incredible to me that people love being ugly. And they buy inappropriate, ugly Christmas sweaters. When they came on the show, they were doing about $600K a year, that was 2 seasons ago, and we’ll do $12 million this year. It’s just one of those stories. And that’s what we’ve learned, all of us on the show, that to have a great investment, you have to connect with the consumer. The business of America is consumerism, so if you can get a product that people will buy right away, you can do really well with it.

The worst, I haven’t had a really bad one yet. I always like to say I haven’t lost any money — yet. There’s probably going to be a few of them that I’m going to have to write off soon, but they are still plugging along.

BI: What really drew you into investing in Tipsy Elves?

RH: Well, they had sales, and they’re great guys. I’m pretty busy, so I like to invest in people that I like to hang with, and also want to run a business together. For me, I always want to invest in somebody who’s incredibly, deeply passionate about the business, and these guys wanted to run a business. I mean they wanted to be there 24/7.

I didn’t feel like I had to worry about them, wander around their business. Because some people that come on the show think that once they get the investment, it’s over. They think they got the money, so they can sit back and relax. And what we say to them is, that’s just the beginning, that’s just the start. You got to go.

BI: Do you ever get offended when contestants seem to wait for Mark Cuban to make an offer, even after you put in an offer first? Do you hate it when Cuban steals a deal from you?

RH: Oh yeah, absolutely. Of course, we all get offended. But I hate it when Kevin gets a deal from me, or when Lorie steals a deal from me, too. But man, I used to hate Mark for the first two years. And he didn’t like me either. And we really get pretty emotional about these stuff.

We have a segment coming up where, I can’t tell you about the whole thing yet, but Lorie, Mark, and I got into an argument, and I walked off, because the next words out of my mouth were going to be rude and not very nice to them. I actually stood up and said, I have a lot of respect for you, but you’re just really pissing me off right now. And I got up and walked out. And then Mark said, I have no problem being rude (laughs). That’s coming up this season.

But I think we respect each other, so we can yell at each other and then have lunch together. Mark and I were just at a bar, and we had a little too much to drink, and we kind of had a man hug, and we kind of hugged it out.

BI: Why do you think contestants seem to want Cuban more?

RH: I think when Mark first came in, it kind of shifted everything because he was so big, and he invested in everything. But I think a couple of things have happened since then. I think we’ve all figured out how to deal with Mr. Cuban, and I think Mr. Cuban’s lost enough money to realize, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t invest in everything.’

So I think, this season, you’re seeing a much more balanced approach. And what people have realized too is, just because Mark’s super wealthy, it doesn’t mean anything for the success or the value of their business.

BI: What makes Shark Tank so great?

RH: It’s the American Dream. It’s the desire to better one’s position in life, and who doesn’t have that desire? I think when people watch the show, they always think, ‘That could be me,’ and it really could. I mean, anybody can get on our show. Mind you, we’ve had 145,000 people apply this year, and 230 got on. But it’s the only show where you don’t have to have god-given talent in order to be successful. You don’t have to have a voice, and you don’t have to be able to dance. You can come on with an idea, and get an investment, and become very wealthy.

BI: So you don't think entrepreneurs are born with entrepreneurial skills?

RH: Absolutely not. The key to entrepreneurial success is simply weighted against your desire to improve your situation in life. People say to me all the time, ‘Oh, I wasn’t born that way.’ And I say, you haven’t suffered enough pain. Trust me, if you suffered enough pain like I have, you’re going to make yourself an entrepreneur.

Most immigrants that came to this country didn’t come to these shores saying, ‘Oh, I’ll see if I could do a little bit better.’ When they landed here, they didn’t have anything. They didn’t have the choice to think about, ‘Oh, I want to start a business, I want to get ahead.’ They were simply forced to do it.

BI: Do we need more immigrant entrepreneurs?

RH: Absolutely. One of the downfalls of this country is that only to Americans is America no longer the land of opportunity. Everywhere else in the world, this is the land of opportunity, hallelujah. I mean, I went on a cruise the other day, and I went by the Statue of Liberty, and I got really emotional. I mean, I looked at it and said, ‘Everywhere in the world, this is freedom.’ And I think we’re just too myopic sometimes in this country.

BI: So what’s the key to success for any startup/company?

RH: If you can’t inspire the people around you, you are going to fail. If you can’t inspire the people around you, you should go sell real-estate, because that is probably one of the only businesses where you could make a lot of money working completely on your own. But I think if you want to build a great business, you’ve got to bring other people along, and nobody wants to be managed. People want to be led.

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Earlier this month, Netflix announced it signed Adam Sandler to an exclusive four-movie deal.

The decision may have seemed a bit odd considering Sandler's most recent films have flopped in the states; however, the comedian has proven himself in recent years to be popular overseas at the box office. 

On Wednesday’s Q3 earnings call, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos expanded more on the decision to collaborate with Sandler, citing Sandler's foreign box-office performance in key markets:

The Adam Sandler decision was driven by following market after market seeing Adam’s films, either from his deepest catalogue to his newest releases, outperforming not only their box office, but performing wonderfully in every territory. Defying conventional wisdom that American comedy doesn’t travel. More importantly, he really performs well in the box office in our key markets like Brazil, like Germany, like the UK. His last movie was 60% international [“Blended”]. Adam is not only a proven 20-year star, meaning he has a movie that performs well at the box-office every summer for 20 years, he is a real global superstar. We see that in the data, and the more international we get, the more access we have to those data points versus relying on conventional wisdom of generic thinking that American comedians don’t travel so well.

Netflix's Adam Sandler offerings vary a lot by country. Here are the current films available to stream in Brazil, Germany, and the UK, respectively.

Here are the Sandler movies available in the US in October.

We previously pointed out that Sandler’s main audience at the box office the past few years has really been driven by international audiences. Since 2011, four of his last six movies including "Just Go With It,""Jack and Jill," Hotel Transylvania," and "Blended" have all performed better overseas.

When asked how the company will measure the success of Sandler's films Sarandos didn't give any specifics. Instead, he said success will be measured similarly to their original content and whether or not people "get excited about Netflix because of it."

I would think about it the same way we look at the successes around original series or any of our licensed series. Relative to what you’re paying do you get this kind of three legs of success with the viewing, the brand halo, and the net subscriber additions based on access to the content. Particularly in this one, we try to be as consumer friendly as we can and I think the model here is telling us that consumers want access to those films sooner and that we can build a model that’s economically feasible to do it. 

Think about measuring success as the same way we do series: Do people get excited about Netflix because of it? 

During the call, CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings positioned the Sandler deal as similar to how Netflix has been dealing with original series.

“Think of it with us playing with this idea of episodic and serialized, but now in the movie form and seeing what kind of great brand allegiances we can create for Adam’s fans — that’s not everybody, but they’re very identifiable," said Hastings.

Sandler's upcoming movies will stream exclusively on Netflix. Fans will not see them in theaters. 

The budgets for the four films are similar Sandler's previous movies, according to Vulture. Sandler's big-budget films have average budgets ranging from $75-$80 million. His most recent film, "Blended," cost an estimated $40 million.

Though no release date is set for Sandler’s films. Netflix tells The Wall Street Journal one film is expected to be released per year. 

SEE ALSO: Why Netflix wants Adam Sandler even though critics trash his movies

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Some of the best shows ever didn't stay on TV for as long as they should have.

That's just how it is in the cutthroat TV industry, where impatient network executives are focused only on last night's ratings. Indeed, some shows don't even make it to debut — recently NBC canceled its Will Ferrell-produced, Krysten Ritter sitcom "Mission Control" and Fox canceled the ambitious ancient Egyptian drama "Hieroglyph" before they even aired.

As new series make their way to the small screen this fall, we're looking over the best shows that were canceled before their time, ranked in order of increasing greatness.

17. CBS: "Jericho" fans pulled an incredible stunt that got the show back on the air for one final season.

Seasons: 2 (2006-2008)

What it's about: CBS' sci-fi actioner centers around the small town of Jericho, Kansas, in the aftermath of nuclear attacks on the country.

Why it shouldn't have been canceled: The show was so beloved after only one season that when news of its cancellation went public, fans sent more than 40,000 pounds of peanuts to the CBS offices in an effort to change executives' minds. The nuts were an ode to the final scene of season 1 in which Jake Green exclaims "nuts" when a neighboring community takes over the town and demands he surrender. The stunt worked, and the show was given one more season before taking the ax yet again after ratings didn't improve. "Jericho" ranks No. 11 on TV Guide's list of "Top Cult Shows Ever."

16. ABC: "Pushing Daisies" suffered from the writers strike.

Seasons: 2 (2007-2009)

What it's about: Bryan Fuller's quirky fantasy/comedy series stars Lee Pace ("Guardians of the Galaxy") as Ned, a piemaker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with a simple touch. 

Why it shouldn't have been canceled: "Pushing Daises" was unlike any other show on television, and that ultimately led to its downfall. The show was simply too out there for general audiences, and while critics and fans adored the series, it never gained a large enough audience to sustain life. "Daisies" also suffered from poor timing, as the infamous writers strike took place during production. The series won seven Emmys and a DGA award and received three Golden Globe nominations in just two years.

15. HBO: "Mr. Show" was funny but didn't connect with viewers.

Seasons: 4 (1995-1998)

What it's about: "Mr. Show" is a sketch comedy series that aired on HBO and starred Bob Odenkirk ("Breaking Bad") and David Cross ("Arrested Development") before they really hit it big. Many popular comedians and writers, like Paul F. Tompkins and Comedy Bang Bang's Scott Aukerman, got their start on the show. 

Why it shouldn't have been canceled:  "Mr. Show" stood out from the pack by being darker, more subversive, and well-rounded than its competition. The series felt like an American answer to "Monty Python" in a lot of ways, especially when seemingly unrelated sketches would connect to one another via goofy segues. "Mr. Show" was nominated for Emmys in both 1998 and 1999, and the AV Club loves it so much that its writers went back and reviewed the series in 2010.

How can you tell when an entertainment exec is lying? When his or her lips were moving a few years ago. Despite an initial stance that HBO’s Game of Thrones would never resort to taking viewers on flashbacks, it has now been revealed that Season 5 of the hit epic drama will indeed be heading to the past to flesh out its storytelling. And it’s probably a good thing. 

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are currently in Spain, where the fifth season of Game of Thrones is currently filming. They offered up an informative Q&A to Spanish film students recently, where the issue of flashbacks came up. Here’s a rough translation of the narrative-shaking announcement. 

"By making the first season, we set a rule: do not use prophecies, dreams or flashbacks. We failed the first two, and the third this season. So yes, this season will finally have flashbacks.”

It’s unclear at this point whether “flashbacks” is intentionally plural or just a gap in translation. Either way, EW reports the one confirmed flashback is currently set to open the entire season, though they acknowledge that future edits could change this.

Expected to feature in this look back is a young Cersei, since there were rumors about her and fortune teller Maggy the Frog being cast over the summer. This would also shed some light on Charles Dance recently claiming that his character Tywin Lannister isn’t yet done in the Game of Thrones universe. Will we see any other now-deceased characters return? 

What the showrunners don’t share in the panel is whether this flashback will be included for purely artistic reasons, or if they’re having to stretch things out.

Author George R.R. Martin is famously taking eons to get the next book in the Fire and Iceseries out to readers, which means the TV series’ lack of story-treading is coming back to bite it. They’re already excising certain characters whose plots were fast-forwarded for TV purposes.

Does this mean Game of Thrones will soon feature a bottle episode where a handful of characters are waiting around to get a table at a Chinese restaurant? Of course, Boardwalk Empire has made flashbacks a way of life in its final season, and The Leftovers used them to finally give audiences answers to its many mysteries, so maybe this is just a story note from HBO. 

You can read the whole Q&A here, and there are quite a few more interesting tidbits to be found. Be on the lookout for more Game of Thrones news as we make the long trek to Season 5, which is set to premiere at some point in early 2015. 

SEE ALSO: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Actor Will Play Aquaman In New Movie

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Letterman’s retiring at the end of the TV season, but the last few months on The Late Show are proving to be a little more tumultuous than most people might expect. This weekend, CBS announced that it had let go Tony Mendez, the outspoken Late Show staff member who was responsible for Letterman’s cue cards and who occasionally appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. Mendez was fired after getting into a physical argument with staff writer Bill Scheft. 

Here’s how the whole thing went down. According to Mendez himself, he had a bad day in the office earlier this month, getting hot and bothered when Scheft kept interrupting him during his regular duties. He even traded barbs with Letterman, who told him to cool off. But he didn’t cool off. Instead, he became even more agitated about the incident and shoved Scheft into the wall the following day to give him a piece of his mind. Here’s what Mendez had to say to the NY Post. 

“I just grabbed him by the shirt. He was very surprised. He didn’t say a word. He was cowering, his eyes were real big, he probably peed a little bit on his pants… I’m the first one to say I should have never put my hands on him, but I never hit him. I just grabbed him and got my face in his face.”

Mendez may say he shouldn’t have pushed the guy, but there’s clearly little love lost between him and Scheft. It seems like the problems on the set have been ongoing for quite some time. Drama behind the scenes rarely crops up in the form of large one-off incidents. Usually there are a few personalities in any given workplace that don’t mesh, and it’s up to the workers themselves to deal with each other and keep things running smoothly, which obviously wasn’t happening this month. 

Right after the incident, Mendez was made to leave the building and shortly thereafter Late Show executive producer Rob Burnett announced the longtime employee was fired. CBS’ response to Mendez’s outburst is very in keeping with network standards related to physical incidents of that nature. Mendez is 69 and may be from a different generation, but there’s just no room to shove your co-worker in the entertainment profession, unless you’ve signed a WWE or MMA contract. 

Letterman’s show is not going to be on the air for much longer. The veteran late night host announced his retirement some time and ago, and he’s expected to give up the reins in 2015. CBS has wasted no time in finding a replacement either, with Stephen Colbert taking over for Letterman once he officially calls it quits. Now, the employees on The Late Show with David Letterman just need to get through the next few months unscathed so they can move on to their next big adventure.

SEE ALSO: 14 People Who Got Fired For Tweeting

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NBC's cult hit show "Hannibal" was recently renewed for a third season after being on the chopping block.

During a panel for the show Saturday evening at the Paley Center in New York City, which included cast members Caroline Dhavernas, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, and Hugh Dancy, showrunner Bryan Fuller was asked about his longterm plan for the series and how malleable that plan is.

Previously, Fuller revealed a 7-season plan for the series about cannibal Doctor Hannibal Lecter; however, he told a packed audience that is getting shorter.

He currently has a six-season plan for the thriller.

We deviated a little bit from the plan for the third season because originally it was going to be the season where Hannibal was abroad and then as we sort of started breaking that story out we realized, 'Okay, in order to make that last an entire season, we're going to have to tread water for a couple of episodes.' If we have 13 episodes, we have no business treading water. So, I thought, let's wrap 'Red Dragon' into the third season and then actually do a Red Dragon miniseries. So, that changed a little bit so that 7-episode plan ... or 7-series plan became a 6-series plan because those seasons kind of collapsed into each other in a way that they actually fuel their own stories and it felt organic. That was one of the places where I was like, let's change the plan.

"Red Dragon" is the first book in the Hannibal series written by Thomas Harris. It was adapted into a 2002 film starring Anthony Hopkins and Edward Norton.

Earlier in the evening, Fuller spoke about the direction of season 3, which will air on NBC next year. 

"What's interesting about the third season is that every episode is kind of a little movie so it's almost like the first episode is a pilot for a show that's just about Bedelia [Du Maurier] and Hannibal's relationship," said Fuller."

The showrunner also revealed a few new characters who will be joining season 3 including Molly, who eventually becomes Will Graham's wife, and an adaptation of Lady Murasaki who will be played by actress Tao Okamoto. 

"Tao Okamoto, who is an amazing actress, you may know her from 'The Wolverine,' she's a young woman and we were very excited when she was interested in the role," said Fuller. "Lady Murasaki is an older woman so we shifted the character. It's the same story but the character is Chio which is also from the literature who was Lady Murasaki's attendant. So, we are expanding that character and her history with Hannibal."

The biggest character fans want to see is an adaptation of Clarice Starling from "Silence of the Lambs." The character was played by Jodie Foster in Oscar-winning 1991 film adaptation and Julianne Moore in a 2001 sequel. However, the show has to get the rights for the character from MGM, something that has proven difficult so far.

Fuller told audiences he remains hopeful.

"We're going to try. Every season we ask them," said Fuller. "The first season and the second season they were like ... 'It was No' ... an annoyed 'No.' And then the third season they were like, well not this year, but ask again next year."

Producer Martha DeLaurentis has previously said at San Diego Comic-Con if the series can't get the rights, then they'll do their "own mash-up" workaround. 

Laurence Fishburne added, 'They like the show and they see that the show has given life to the material again."

"Hannibal" returns to NBC next year. No official return date has been announced.

SEE ALSO: Why no one is watching NBC's excellent "Hannibal"

SEE ALSO: How "Hannibal" creates delicously appetizing food that looks like human flesh

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One of the best things about NBC's "Hannibal" is Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen as the show's titular character. His portrayal of the infamous Dr. Lecter is unique in that his cannibalistic obsession manifests itself in such a way that his character comes off as a master chef, not some human-craving barbarian.

Prior to shooting for season 3, Business Insider spoke with the show's food stylist, Janice Poon, to find out just how hands-on the actor truly is on set. Poon tells us Mikkelsen does all his own food stunts.

"That was really him chopping ingredients," Poon tells Business Insider. "He [Mikkelsen] came up to my studio for some culinary training because he is a master of all things, he can do everything better than anybody. He's a quick study; he's just very dexterous and aware of physicality and using different instruments."

Poon says there was one moment on set when Hannibal was tasked with pulling off an impressive food trick akin to something you'd see at a Benihana restaurant.

SEE ALSO: "Hannibal" is the best TV show no one is watching

AND: "Hannibal" creator has a 6-season plan for the show

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If you watched HBO's "True Detective," two things probably hold true.

You were going crazy trying to figure out who the "spaghetti monster" killer was, and, as with Woody Harrelson's character, you were probably left scratching your head trying to comprehend what Matthew McConaughey's character Rust Cohle was talking about half the time.

Cohle would often go on and on about dense philosophies and theories about life and the world as we know it.

For small talk with his partner Marty Hart (Harrelson) he says, "I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution."

One of Cohle's most popular quotes online comes from season 1, episode 5, when he reveals the "secret fate of all life."

In eternity, where there is no time nothing can grow nothing can become nothing changes. So death created time to grow the things that it would kill. And you are reborn but into the same life that you've always been born into. How many times have we had this conversation detectives? Well, who knows? You can't remember your lives. You can't change your lives, and that is the terrible and secret fate of all life. You’re trapped by that nightmare you keep waking up into.

In a new interview with GQ, McConaughey says he understood every word, theory, and rant Cohle uttered.

"I spent many, many, many, many, many, many hours, if not days, writing to Nic Pizzolatto and asking, 'What are you saying here? What does this mean? Why is he saying it now?'" McConaughey said. "And then I was able to take it and make it my own."

The Emmy-nominated actor won't be back for "True Detective" season 2, but he says many people have tried to get him to return to another cop role.

"I've seen a lot of detective scripts since then, but none of them could wear the jockstrap of Rusty Cohle," McConaughey said.

You can read the full GQ article here.

SEE ALSO: 5 Roles That Show Why Vince Vaughn Will Be Awesome In “True Detective” Season 2

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Fall means leaves changing colors, a crisp in the air and new TV shows. Some installments of that final seasonal trait will become long-running hits, while others won't even last their episode orders.

As an early examination, TheWrap ranked the 17 highest and lowest-rated new fall broadcast series to-date, finding that CBS is sitting pretty, even if you don't count its foray into primetime pigskin. Meanwhile, save “Gotham,” Fox finds itself in need of a Nielsen hero.

Focusing only on new scripted and reality broadcast TV series — meaning no “Thursday Night Football,” sorry CBS — the clear-cut individual winner a few weeks into the fall season is new Shonda Rhimes series, “How to Get Away With Murder,” which joins her other established hits “Grey's Anatomy” and “Scandal” on ABC Thursdays.

The mouthful “HTGAWM” is averaging a 4.4 rating in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic per Nielsen's most current metric, which counts Live + 7 Day numbers where available.

Fox's Batman-prequel “Gotham” is the runner-up new broadcast series, averaging a 3.9 rating in the key demo thus far. CBS's “Scorpion” is third with a 3.6.

The top new comedy, ABC's “Black-ish,” is averaging a 3.4, finishing fourth to this point. In fifth place, another CBS drama, “NCIS: New Orleans,” has a 2.8.

On the wrong end of the Nielsen sheets is Fox's “Utopia,” the Friday version — now the reality experiment's regular timeslot — averaging a 0.9. The series premiere of “Utopia,” which occurred on a Sunday, is counted in the non-Friday line. (Note: The actual chart below will have 18 slots, reflecting the two different “Utopia,” timeslots, as the show also regularly aired on Tuesdays before Fox pulled it from that day and relegated it to a lower-rated Friday timeslot ahead of schedule.)

Up two-tenths of a ratings point from that reality show is Fox's “Mulaney” and ABC's “Manhattan Love Story,” tied with a 1.1. Fox's miniseries “Gracepoint” and NBC's “A to Z” were also tied (1.2), rounding out the bottom five.

TheWrap elected to not chart four series, as their premiere episodes have yet to see a seven-day lift in available numbers. Those are: NBC's “Marry Me” (2.3 Live + Same Day), ABC's “Cristela” (1.2 L+SD), and CW's “The Flash” (1.8 L+SD) and “Jane the Virgin” (0.6 L+SD).”

Live + 7 numbers were only available for those episodes that aired on or before Oct. 5. Any airing from the following two weeks is not yet timezone adjusted by Nielsen, to the detriment of the shows that ran later. Premieres that occurred before the technical start to the season, Sept. 22, are still counted in the rating.

Here's the complete rankings of the 17 new fall series that have debuted on network TV to-date:

SEE ALSO: The Only 10 New TV Shows Worth Watching This Fall

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Netflix released a teaser trailer for its next original series, "Bloodline," and, so far, it leaves much to be desired.

There's not much to see in the 30 second teaser except a burning boat, rocking on the water ... in the rain. A voiceover tells us some unidentified group of people did a bad thing but that they're "not bad people."

Netflix describes the show as centering on "a close-knit family of four adult siblings whose secrets and scars are revealed when their black sheep brother returns home."

The series comes from the creators of "Damages" and stars "Friday Night Lights" actor Kyle Chandler along with Ben Mendelsohn ("The Dark Knight Rises"), Sissy Spacek, and Jamie McShane ("Sons of Anarchy").

All 13 episodes of season one will debut on Netflix March 2015. 

SEE ALSO: "Daredevil" actor points out the one clear advantage Netflix has over TV

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NEW YORK (AP) — AMC Networks Inc. said Thursday it will pay $200 million to acquire a stake in BBC America.

The entertainment company known for shows such as "The Walking Dead" and "Mad Men" will have a 49.9 percent equity stake in the cable channel that is home of shows such as "Doctor Who" and "Orphan Black."

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corp., will retain 50.1 percent ownership. The BBC said in a statement the partnership will help it reach new audiences in the U.S., strengthen BBC America, while creating opportunities for the U.K.'s "creative community."

New York-based AMC will have operational control of BBC America and manage it as a stand-alone channel, adding to its portfolio that also includes AMC, IFC and SundanceTV.

It is not the first agreement between the BBC and AMC, which already worked together on series such as "Top of the Lake" and "Honourable Woman."

Shares of AMC fell 29 cents to close at $58.44 before the announcement. They were unchanged in extended trading.

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"The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman has finally put one of the biggest fan theories on the show to rest.

At the start of the series, viewers are introduced to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) as he wakes up from a coma to discover the world he once knew ravaged by the undead. The entire show follows survivors as they try and outwit the dead to stay alive.

Now in its fifth season, many eager fans have speculated how the eventual comic series and AMC show will come to a close. The most popular theory is that the zombie apocalypse never happened and that Grimes is just in a coma.

Well, fans can put that theory to rest. 

Kirkman took to Twitter Friday to deny the coma theory.

Going on record to answer this: http://t.co/3lhUI6A3bW Rick is NOT still in a coma. The events of TWD are definitely happening.

— Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) October 24, 2014

Kirkman was prompted to come clean after an article ran on Uproxx demanding the series creator "go on the record" promising "The Walking Dead" won't end up as a coma dream.

Earlier this year, Kirkman told Entertainment Weekly he knows exactly how the series will end.

“I do know what I’m building toward, yes,” said Kirkman. "I do have a lot of road laid out before that that is going to take a long time, but I certainly know exactly what I’m building to."

Season 5 has kicked off to the show's highest ratings ever. Over 17 million tuned in for the season premiere. Last week's second episode had over 15 million viewers.

NOW WATCH: There's A Good Reason 'The Walking Dead' Creator Doesn't Use The Word Zombie

SEE ALSO: Why "The Walking Dead" changed an iconic line from the season 4 finale

AND: Why "The Walking Dead" casts so many actors from "The Wire"

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We have our first canceled TV series of the fall season and it's ABC's "Manhattan Love Story."

The rom-com followed two individuals (Jake McDorman and Analeigh Tipton) set up on a blind date. The twist? You could also hear everything going on in both individual's head.

It was one two dozen new shows to premiere on network TV this fall.

We're not surprised, but we had our money on NBC's "Bad Judge" going first since it was plagued with behind-the-scenes issues.

"Manhattan Love Story" premiered to 4.7 million viewers. The latest episode had 2.6 million tune in to watch. The show went from having a 1.5 rating to a dismal .7 in the key 18-49 demo.

The show was becoming a rough lead-in for Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." which have slowly been decreasing since the season's start.

The series has accrued a majority of poor reviews that suggested the two lead actors had little to no chemistry. The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman called it "sexist and stupid." Most were annoyed with hearing the main character's every thoughts.

Despite the cancellation, ABC has one of the strongest lineups right now with the fall's number one new drama series, "How to Get Away With Murder," from Shonda Rhimes ("Scandal,""Grey's Anatomy") and the number one new comedy, "Black-Ish."

It's pretty late in the year for the first TV show to get the axe. 

Entertainment Weekly reports that's because TV execs have wanted to give more time to allow for DVR data to come in. EW also says the networks aren't as confident in their midseason replacement series which isn't a good sign.

SEE ALSO: The 17 best TV shows that were canceled

AND: The only fall TV shows to watch

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Warning: There are major spoilers ahead.

"The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman was right. The show stuck closely to a popular storyline from the comics.

Sunday night's episode of the AMC hit brought a fast close to a subplot about a group of cannibals, known as the hunters, after only three episodes into season five.

Last chance to head back before spoilers.

A showdown between the "hunters" led by Gareth (Andrew J. West) and Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) group erupted into an unexpected bloodbath in a church. (For the record, the scene doesn’t take place in a real church. The small, white chapel in the woods was constructed for the series.)

In the episode, viewers watch as Rick, Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) hack away at the Termites for threatening their loved ones.  

A lot of the blood in the scene isn't CGI. 

When it looks like Rick is hacking away at Gareth ...

... he’s actually hacking into a block filled with fake blood to make it splatter most of the time.

West tells The Hollywood Reporter he was also hit with a rubber machete by Lincoln.

"They had to get shots of Andy actually hitting me with the machete because they didn't know exactly how they'd cut it together," says West. "So they wrapped me up with padding around my torso and they gave Andy a rubber machete and just had him beat me with that thing. It doesn't hurt at all because I got the padding and it's rubber, but you feel that pressure and you feel how intensely he's swinging. It creates a pretty remarkable atmosphere. It's scary."

Similar to Lincoln, Cudlitz smashed his gun into a block to splash blood around.

Look close and you’ll notice the camera team actually covered themselves and the cameras in clear bags to film the bloody scenes.

CG is used in the scene when Gareth's two fingers get blasted off by gunfire. The actor is wearing CG fingers covered in blood.

"We put some blood on the fingers so that we had some remnant blood," says VFX supervisor Victor Scalise in a featurette on the episode. "The two pieces [of finger] that fly toward the camera are actually computer-generated and a little blood and gore and then as he pulls his hand down you see the little stubs." 

If you're wondering why Gareth and the cannibals didn't stick around longer, executive producer Greg Nicotero tells The Hollywood Reporter the show has spent a lot of time with Terminus already and that the crew didn't want to drag it out.

"It's very important that the show continue its momentum," Nicotero told THR. "We feel like we had teased arrival of Terminus for almost the entire second half of the season last year. We want to keep our story moving forward. That story line — the Hunters and cannibals — we want to be able to pay tribute to it from the comic but we also want to keep moving forward. As we get into episodes four, five and six, in true Walking Dead tradition, we're going to step off and explore some other characters we may not have explored as in depth in previous episodes."

That certainly seems to be the consensus this season. Showrunner Scott Gimple and the crew aren't messing around.

You can watch Sunday's talked about scene here.

Watch the making of the scene below:

SEE ALSO: "The Walking Dead" creator debunks the show's biggest fan theory

AND: The most terrifying scene in "The Walking Dead" premiere was inspired by 1979's "Alien"

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