'The Walking Dead' Showrunners Explain Finale Cliffhanger
SPOILERS AHEAD - "That’s really the story of season 7," a producer said.
— -- SPOILERS AHEAD!
Well, "The Walking dead" may not have ended the way fans wanted last night. In the final scenes of the season finale, we meet new big bad villain Negan, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and things take a turn for the worse for Rick and his crew.
After we meet Negan, he definitely kills one of Rick's team, as Rick and the gang sit on their knees while Negan says, "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe."
The only thing is fans will have to wait and see who took the blow. They were not happy.
"The end of the story is what people saw," showrunner Scott M. Gimple said, according to The Hollywood Reporter's recap of the night.
He added, "When we reveal who was on the receiving end there, that's going to be the start of another story. The kickback effects from that — what it makes everyone into, how they react, how the world changes for everyone — that's the next part of the story."
The question that will haunt "Dead" fans for months is who died? Was it Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Daryl, Rosita, Carl, Maggie, Aaron, Eugene, Abraham or Sasha?
As for that season 7 premiere episode, Gimple said, "We have to do an episode that justifies it to you. We have to do something so great and so intense that you're like, 'OK, fair play.' And that's the challenge we have and we're going to deliver you something fantastic."
"Dead" executive producer Robert Kirkman addressed the finale on "The Talking Dead."
"First of all, as a fan, I love cliffhangers. I love that tension. I love the anticipation of finding out what it is. If you read the comic book series, I think pretty much every issue ends with a big cliffhanger… And I think that’s a lot of fun," he said according to Entertainment Weekly.
He continued, "But this story, the cliffhanger isn’t the story ... It’s about tearing Rick Grimes down and that’s the conclusion of this story. So while it does seem like a cliffhanger, that’s the conclusion. And the story of who died, the story of what comes next, of who Negan killed, of what comes after that, that’s really the story of season 7.”
As for the new villain Negan, Kirkman added that if you look at things from his perspective, you'll see it very differently.
"As upset as people probably are at Negan’s introduction and how he’s coming in and killing somebody that is very beloved to everyone, I think from his perspective he’s the hero of his story, like most villains. And if we had been following him all this time we’d be 100 percent on board with that," he said.
"The Walking Dead" returns for season 7 this fall on AMC.
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