The third season of The Walking Dead, an American post-apocalyptic horror television series on AMC, premiered on October 14, 2012, and concluded on March 31, 2013, consisting of 16 episodes.

It also marks the return of Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker), the volatile older brother of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), who went missing in the first season, and also features the return of Morgan Jones (Lennie James), the first survivor Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) encountered and befriended, who he lost contact with in season one.

Set eight months after the killing of Shane Walsh and onslaught of the Greene Family Farm, with the world growing increasingly more dangerous and Lori's (Sarah Wayne Callies) pregnancy advancing, the season continues the story of Rick Grimes, who has assumed a dictatorial-like leadership over his group of survivors as they survive in a post-apocalyptic world infested with flesh-eating zombies, dubbed "walkers".

After discovering a potential safe haven, the group takes refuge and inhabits a large fortified prison, but this security is threatened by a nearby community — Woodbury — led by a nefarious man known as The Governor, who takes an interest in Andrea (Laurie Holden) as she remains, after the burning of the farm, separated and unaware of the main group's status.

The press release read, "Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways.

"[9] Following the Torn Apart series in 2011, another set of webisodes titled Cold Storage were produced and debuted on October 1, 2012, prior to the premiere of Season 3.

The site's critical consensus reads: "The palpable terror and visceral thrills continue in the third season of The Walking Dead, along with a deeper sense of the people who inhabit its apocalyptic landscape.

[36] The season also received a nomination for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie, or Special at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ("This Sorrowful Life").