Spoilers for previously aired episodes of Walking Dead follow
Walking Dead producer Greg Nicotero got cornered by E! news at the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter premiere earlier this week. They got him to go on the record about fan outrage at the ridiculous cliffhanger which concluded season six. Nicotero also directed this episode, and the way he described it he read the script, loved that ending and tacitly signed off on it, probably along with several other team members who have no problem treating fans like idiots. Nicotero repeated a lot of the talking points we’ve heard about this episode from both its writer, Scott Gimple, and new star, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. They keep repeating that the story wasn’t about who got killed by Negan, it about was the breakdown of Rick as leader. That’s a weak excuse for a glaring, trolling cliffhanger. They didn’t need to do that and they know it. However Nicotero did reveal the producers’ plan for dealing with fan outrage – they think we’ll get over it in time to tune in next season. They’re probably right, the bastards.
“My message to fans is thank you for watching because their passion and their love for the show is what keeps us alive. And to trust us, because I know people feel like, ‘Oh, you guys pulled the rug out from under us!’,” Nicotero told E! News at a VIP Press Event for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, open to the public on April 7, at Universal Studios Hollywood on Tuesday. “People are angry and people are frustrated, and in a couple days, they might be less frustrated. By the time we’re ready to back on the air, hopefully they’ll be ready to watch again and continue our journey.”
“We have tremendously passionate fans. Everybody has emotion about it and that’s actually OK. We were still, and I’m still, very proud of the episode. I love the storytelling. I feel like it’s some of the best acting that we’ve had,” he added. “You know, it’s a little unfortunate, but you know, the truth of the matter is, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, their emotion. I think it just shows their heart is in it…
“It was always intended to be shot the way that it was shot.”
In the video he also compared Walking Dead, in a roundabout way, to Game of Thrones and said he was a big GoT fan. Do you remember how Walking Dead trolled Game of Thrones for not revealing Jon Snow’s fate? They tweeted last fall, in response to the teaser poster for GoT with Jon Snow’s face covered in blood, “And you guys thought WE were torturing our fans…” It’s not a competition who see who can mess with the fans most. People were rightfully pissed off about Glenn’s fate back then and yet we’re still waiting to hear what happened to him. Just because GoT trolls fans doesn’t make it somehow the thing to do. These writers and producers are getting too arrogant.
Completely agree with you!
Me too! Walking off a Cliff (Jumped the Shark)? They lost me. I am not a nerd. I won’t blindly wait for the next comic book to be issued.
I stopped watching this show 4 episodes ago. I have stopped caring about most of the characters and Carols ridiculous transformation has been hard to watch. Morgan was pissing me off and the whole thing has just been repetitive and tiring. I was obsessed with the show up until this season. I can’t quite pinpoint exactly what has changed for me except that it feels like its the same thing over and over each season and I’m just over it I guess. It makes me sad though 🙁
They just need to move at a dynamic pace, but the egoists running this ruin it by moving a potentially great show at a snails pace. He’s patting himself on the back about how the fans care when he just craps all over the enormous potential here. They drag it out and act as though the crap isn’t already written. IT’S ALREADY WRITTEN…let’s get on with it!
The one thing that bothers me the most about The Walking Dead is that I don’t connect with any of the characters. I don’t have feelings either way about any of their fates. I want to care though. The writing just doesn’t allow me to.
That said, I am completely indifferent to the cliffhanger ending as Lucille taking out any of them is fine with me.
Really good point. Perhaps that is why I always waited for a season to end to watch. I watch it all at once. It’s just not a priority and can be hard to watch. I think they have over estimated it’s draw.
Clucky: Oh I do….totally vested in Daryl. He is a badass and like Dirty Harry does the jobs nobody wants, like carrying the bodies of dead girls. Love him. Rick has multiple personality disorder, but in the end, he gets me. I felt terrible the way Carl was getting the shit from Negan, I hated it. I still like Carol and think although lately she’s falling apart, is a smart women. She uses her vulnerability like a warm blanket, but pulls it off when she needs to survive or help her family do the same. The others I could live with or without. I won’t be upset if Gaggie, Eugene, Abraham, Michonne or Rosetta get up close and personal with Lucille. Yep I’m still a 75% stan.
I’ll admit, Daryl has potential. However, the writers just don’t seem to give him much to do beyond acting like a tough guy and shouting cringeworthy lines like “you gonna make us?”
I *think* there is depth underneath all his long, lanky hair and I know Carol is having some sort of breakdown but they all just seem to be in crisis mode so much that there isn’t enough time to explore what makes each of them tick.
@Nancy +1 yep yep yep
You can’t even compare TWD to GOT. It’s not like we saw the Night’s Watch stabbing someone, but didn’t know who it was.
Besides, GOT book readers knew what was coming. And so did TWD comic readers. But then, TWD decided to throw a wrench in the finale and leave everyone with a dumb cliffhanger that they may have killed a different character from the comics.
Seriously. You can’t call what GOT did trolling. It was good, exciting storytelling and left us wondering what Snow’s fate would be and where the story would or could go from there. It was a shock, but meaningful as it propelled the story forward. (Even if Kit is still on the show, Snow as we know him is dead.) What TWD did was pure trolling and d*cking people around. You want to compare yourself to GOT? Then show us who got killed and let us wonder during the hiatus how it’s going to change the dynamic of the show. TWD messed up and continues to refuse to admit and accept it. That’s what’s even more insulting. That arrogance in believing the majority of their fans are wrong and that they themselves are infallible. Bull.
–TheRealPinky
I do agree with him on one part. I cared the night I watched it but already moved on. 😉
Lame season, lamer ending. Don’t have anymore time for this show
I agree. stopped watching last year
I really think it’s Glenn who was killed. I don’t have any well researched theory behind my prediction, it’s just a gut feeling. The writing has gone down hill and cliffhangers suck, but I’ll be watching in October to see what happens.
You can read it in a blurb here Monday morning.
Mr Lindy is convinced they will stick with the comic book ending so time will tell. Ive no doubt people will tune in, as they have done for the other premieres, it has the highest ratings on AMC each year so especially for the premiere…they didn’t really need to do this to get people to tune in.
They can do meaningful deaths really well, Hershel being an example..that stuck with me for days afterwards, but this just seemed cheap, coupled with the Glenn dumpster malarky they pulled earlier the same season (cliffhanger, removing him from the opening credits, leaving it 4 episodes even though most figured it out immediately), and got a lot of flack for but clearly they think they are smarter and don’t listen to feedback.
Give it a week into filming and it will be spoiled who is not on set. People will be actively trying to spoil this.
The walking dead is no game of thrones. Got can leave viewers in limbo because of episodes like the red wedding. When shows start messing with it’s viewers like twd you’re guaranteeing they’ll leave in droves.
that moment could have been the Red Wedding of The Walking Dead but they blew it.
Yup. It was no Red Wedding. It wasn’t even Joffrey’s Purple Wedding. It was just…dragon sh*t.
I propose that we rename the phrase Jump the Shark in honor of this debacle and call the moment when a show overstays its welcome by trolling its fans, the point it “Walked Dead.”
–TheRealPinky
No Guesses on on who possibly died?
I am thinking it was Eugene. They kill off a lot of characters who were considered weak in the beginning and then try to redeem themselves, examples: Denise, Sam, Beth and Andrea. I think the writers want us to to assume it’s Glenn, since he dies around this time in the comics, but TWD ain’t no Game of Thrones, so they won’t take it there. Plus, Eugene is kneeling next to Carl and every time they show the point of view from Rick’s gang, it’s someone who is next to Carl.
I am not sure why people are so outraged over the finale considering the writing has always been lazy, inconsistent, with tendencies to have plots holes and lack of character development throughout all six seasons. I like TWD, but there are better shows that are much more well written, right now I am digging Bates Motel.
i would have guesses Abraham or Aaron but now they have pressure to kill someone important off.
Pretty sure it was Glenn. Which, I’m so irritated by the show…..
I’m wondering if it’s Aaron. He didn’t really have a good reason to be on the RV. I was spoiled that it would be a cliffhanger, so maybe that’s why I find this outrage over the top. People are constantly threatening to quit watching shows if everything doesn’t go their way. I’ve really only done that with Outlander. Male on male rape portrayed as erotic really turned me off, and I’m probably going to delete season two from my DVR.
I noted that when Negan first hit, and the recipient of the blow was dazed, we heard Negan say through the distorted hearing of the victim, “Dad! Takin’ it like a champ!” and he is looking at the victim while he says it, addressing it to the victim…so Glenn or Rick.
It’s someone who was in the van for sure, based on the fact that the episode began with the first person POV of someone inside the van and ended with the first person POV of someone getting hit with the bat.
That means it’s either Glenn, Darryl, Rosita or Michonne. I would bet on Glenn, but I could see a case for Michonne too.
@robynsing Negan said “DANG!” Taking it like a champ.
If this is true, I’m going with Rosita. I’ve thought she was a goner since the melodramatic break up scene with Abraham. It was all so Abe would suffer from guilt.
@sugarmalone @robynsing Negan def didn’t say “Dad” – he either said dude or dang, taking it like a champ. I vote for dang. Dude is too valley girl 🙂
Hotpockets: I love Bates Motel and have been watching since the first episode. Freddie and Vera are so good that you hate to remember that we know what Norma’s fate will be. I actually liked the first few seasons the best when Norman was weird but not full on Norma yet. I like Dylan but think he will move on with Emma. She was so much more interesting in the beginning and understood what it was like to be the outcast. Anyway, people should catch up on Netflix, it’s definitely worth it. It will go down as a cult classic.
Nancy, I’m glad someone else is watching that show too! The acting and writing in it is superb, it’s like a combination of True Detective, Twin Peaks and Dexter. It sucks you in and doesn’t disappoint, not to mention the characters are well written, unlike TWD, which is something that annoys me with that show.
That is such a bullshit excuse.
If it was the end of story of Rick as a good leader (not that he ever was, he just got lucky that all the people he met up till now had been sheltered and overprotected) then they would have ended the episode with the dead body of his friend/son(?) and then panned to his devastated face.
This was a gimmick designed to double bluff everyone. We all know Glenn dies exactly like that in the comics. However, Denise had Abraham’s death (as a plot device to set up the doctor run) and after Glenn’s two near misses they might give his canon death to someone else.
Or they might do a ‘fuck it’ and kill him off.
Either way the fans (and I am one of them) are attached to the characters so I call BS on the ‘end of the story’. It might be a change in circumstances but not of protagonists.
What really annoyed me is that we were robbed of a tragic Herschel-like death, instead in six months time for the tiny fraction of people who will have managed to stay unspoilt it will be an utter anti-climax.
They built up a huge horrific scene and then switched off. Not clever.
I’ve read speculation that Glenn and the dumpster was done to test viewer reaction to a Glenn death. It was odd that on Glenn’s first show back, they had Steven Yeun tape a special message for his fans. It seems foolish to endanger the same character. It makes me think he’s safe.
Yes!!!! I thought the same thing. Killing Glenn now wouldn’t have quite the same impact it would have had without his dumpster dive.
Thank you, Maum! Very often Rick annoys the hell out of me with his plans/decisions.
Of course I will tune in to the next season – as most fans will do. I just think, it is disgusting what they did to the character of the person who died. This scene was not supposed to be only about Rick. It was about the death of Glenn (or whoever died)! It was supposed to be about the mourning about this character. The show is not just Rick.
Absolutely. In fact the more it is about just Rick the more his bad leadership becomes obvious.
You can’t have six seasons about one character. This was my main complaint about the Harry Potter books- they were all written from his perspective and I wanted to see the backstories and the other characters.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH GOT!?!?! AS IF?!?!?! cause GoT has characters selected as unkillable and are incapable of character development until 2 episodes before a character gets killed and are shilling for car companies IN the Actual show and HBO Totally cheapos out on location by making the showrunners create protracted dumb nothing happens storylines for filler episodes to justify keeping everyone in one spot and both shows have an abundance of excessive meandering pointless episodes and they keep running through show runners SURRRRREEEE Buddy… also No Shade Mr. Nicotero but what’s the point of that sad prison ponytail when all the front of your hair is seceeding from the Union??! ( Sorry that is mean but his Artiste high Falluting speak on a show that already jumped the shark vs how UTTERLY well done and expensive and actually RUTHLESS GoT ACTUALLY Is just pissed me off)
Sure, TWD finale sucked but it’s rude to mock Greg’s appearance. Wtf does that have to do with the crappy writing? Take shots at the garbage plotline…not GN’s hair, ffs!!!
And the period key is located on the lower right side of your keyboard. It’s right there on the last line next to the space key.
@QQ THANK YOU
It’s sadly Glenn, whom I love! The bastard writers love to jerk the audience around, so what better way than killing a beloved character just like the comics. Since we’re use to them killing off characters by Switching up deaths, this would be the ultimate surprise.
Team Lucille
Writers of the TWD if you were going to give us a GOT episode, we wanted the Red Wedding episode, not the Jon Snow episode. Also, GOT kills off people all the time, they gave us ONE cliffhanger episode, TWD does it every single season. Viewers are furious because they consistently do it. TWD is zzzz lately because it’s relying on violence as its story rather than better writing & story lines. Glad they’re finally getting some backlash for the bad writing and ratings ploy.
Not to mention the Jon Snow episode was crucial because it was the end of the source material and its resolution will shape the rest of the story. It followed the book in a walk the WD didn’t. Fans of the comics were looking forward to an epic scene and the rest of us wanted to know who was going to die.
Now if it is Glenn after all it will be ‘boring’ because he already died twice this season- let’s not forget after the dumpster he was trapped against the wall in Alexandria trying to save Maggie. He was surrounded by zombies until Abraham saved him at the last minute. I actually thought this would be his death- the dumpster was a cop out and Maggie kept saying she would not believe he was dead until she could see it.
Now if they kill a secondary character it will be an utter joke. The most shocking to me would be Maggie because she’s sick and helpless and it would be so cruel. But then we’ve now heard that Negan doesn’t kill children or women.
This is such a joke.
Think it may be Abraham, which I see as a cop out. He isn’t a biggie.
I’m glad to see a few other people who aren’t entranced by the musty, backwoods mess that is The Walking Dead. Norman Reedus is only as hot as the least depressing looking criminal in a newspaper mugshot lineup. I love a good drama, but the thought of crying about a zombie is ridiculous.
I Love you for Musty Backwoods mess
It stinks for whichever “beloved” actor it is because instead of us mourning and tweeting him our goodbyes, the period will only last one week until episode 2 and then we’ll have moved on.
Here is why I’m sure it’s Glenn…
The foreshadowing showed it must be someone who was locked in the truck, Glenn, Darryl or Michonne. Gimple said its a “beloved” character. All three are favorites but I would only describe Glenn as beloved. One of the creators also said that the death affects everything pertaining to how the group goes forward. The only ones that could apply to are Rick who Kirkman once said if he dies that’s the end of the series, or Glenn because Maggie is carrying his baby. So all that plus Glenn is the only one about to start shootings a movie which would interfere with filming.
Case closed! And fu to all the shows writers. This season was too soap opera like and I’m close to being done with it. But a huge thank you to the writer of this review for being as angry and disappointed as I was!
Darryl is a firm favourite though. I’ve read a lot of comments on forums of people bored with Glenn and claiming he hasn’t had a storyline in three seasons and his story arc is finished.
Michonne is a woman and apparently Negan doesn’t kill women.
I feel sorry for Glenn. He was my favourite characters and how he’s having a ‘boy who cried wolf’ death.
You know its silly, but for the longest time, I was (maybe still am) attached to the core characters. I want them to say FU to the comics and do something different. But I am sure its Glen. I mean Robert Kirkman is driving this machine and I am not a fan of his, since he battled with Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara. In any event, I sort of lost it when Hershel died so violently and I can’t bear to see Glenn’s head bashed in. So I think I’m done. Between then serious ugh violence, the jerking around of the fan’s and the fact they all seem to be stuck in a perpetual fight or flight response with other humans, I am over it. I want them to do more than just fight other humans. Maybe head to sea. Maybe head toward Maine, where its colder and zombies move slower. Maybe try to find some sort of salvage government. (I think this clearly shows I was an English major way back in college! 🙂
Can I just one season where no characters dies? Except a boat load of frickin’ zombies!
Of course not. Glenn dumpster dive is something I’m not fully recovered from! Now I’ve gotta wait 6 mos just to find out they off’d my “baby daddy” lmao. I’ll have to go cold turkey with TWD.
Too many characters biting the dust.
Totally agree. One season where they all live. Im going cold turkey too.
Part of me wonders if they’re hedging their bets. They know what happens in the comics and they know a lot of the fans do too–I know and I don’t even read the comics. This way it’s set up so they *could* go that route or they could see how people are reacting and perhaps change the outcome. I think they totally originally planned to go the comic route and then saw the fan outrage at Glenn’s other ‘death’. Now–did they ‘waste’ the shock of Glenn (a major, original, much loved character) on that cheap stunt–to the point that it wouldn’t be worth killing such a character off via Negan. Or was it hyped so much that they have to go with the comic ending. They can gauge fan reaction and pick and choose what happens in October. I think if they feel they can get away with it, they will go with a B character like Abraham or Eugene. If they want shock, they can still try with Glenn or go with the much-rumored Darryl. If people think they are going for a copout, they need a big character to take the hit (no pun intended) to keep audience faith.
It should be Glenn. He is dead in the comics anyway. And sadly his character has been doing nothing of importance of late. They are writing him with the same pen they use on Carol. I think the problem is those characters are dead in the comics. And to move forward they have to find some way to make them make sense in stories they are not a part of. The relationship with Rick and Michonne is new because in the comics he and Andrea are together. But Andrea is dead on the show.
Its hard to keep it straight. But it makes the most sense for it to be Glenn. I thought it would be Glenn when they showed the shot of him in the van driving away and you could see Maggie in the rear view mirror. OR it could be Abraham. But they have just started his relationship with Sasha. So we have MONTHS to wait. No need to over stress it.