Warning: The following accommodates spoilers for the Season 11 and sequence finale of The Walking Dead. If you haven’t watched but, assured — you need to try this earlier than studying additional.
Sunday’s sequence finale of The Walking Dead (learn recap right here) left us with a lot of emotions. Surprise (a glimpse of Rick and Michonne!). Happiness (Judith, Jerry and Dog lived!). Sadness (R.I.P., Rosita!). Even ambivalence (so no “Donnie” in any case, huh?). But it additionally left us with a ton of questions. Here to reply a few of them for TVLine is showrunner Angela Kang.
TVLINE | Was it at all times the plan to have Rick and Michonne make a shock look in the finale, or did that come after their restricted sequence was introduced?
From the primary pitch in regards to the finish of the season, I put my want record out to the universe and AMC and all of the producers, and mentioned that the present was not full with out bringing again Rick and Michonne in a way. I do know that that’s not completely as much as me, there’s a lot of stuff that must be labored out, however that was my want. And then it took many, many, many months for it to really come collectively. For a whereas, I used to be like, “I don’t think we’re getting them.”
TVLINE | I think followers are gonna be fairly comfortable that you just bought them.
It makes me comfortable, too!
TVLINE | How did you arrive at Rosita being the large dying in the finale?
Christian Serratos volunteered! I used to be speaking to her about our plans for the finale, and I kinda made a joke about blah, blah, blah deaths — until folks need to volunteer. And she was like, “Are you open to the idea of maybe Rosita dying at the end?” Then she laid out a actually passionate argument for the way she felt that was the proper alternative for her character’s story, how bravely she would do something for her little one. So she advised me to consider it. I did, then I talked to the writers and the community and Scott [M. Gimple, the franchise’s chief content officer] and mentioned, “I think we can do a really beautiful version with Christian.” So it began along with her.
TVLINE | I do know Luke and Jules bit the mud, too, however… was there any temptation to go greater and have extra characters die in the finale?
We talked about each iteration of it. In some methods, doing extra carnage makes every particular person dying appear much less significant. Also, that is a story that in the supply, the leads die. It’s kind of about how that cycle of life ends, after which the subsequent era is left, proper? So I used to be like, “If you’re really going to be taking all these other figures off the table, I don’t know that you even get the same impact from killing someone who is further down the tier.” Rosita kind of provides you that, symbolically.
TVLINE | I used to be a little shocked that Annie survived. I assumed her dying would possibly spark a little little bit of compassion for Negan in Maggie, whether or not or not he deserves it.
For Annie, we have been truly at all times considering that she can be alive to go away [her and their unborn baby as] a chance for Negan for the long run. We simply thought there was one thing fascinating about him having had this marriage. But that’s for the subsequent present to cope with!
TVLINE | You and I’ve talked a lot about Daryl and Connie, and also you stored telling me that I wasn’t loopy to suppose there was a vibe there. But we didn’t even get a kiss in the top!
There is a vibe. But it felt like they have been kind of ships that handed in the evening, finally. The story that we supposed with Connie kind of shifted when [Lauren Ridloff] went to do a Marvel film, to be trustworthy. This was a whereas again. Sometimes, when issues like that occur, the trail shifts. So we would have truly leaned into that a little extra if she wasn’t lacking for a large chunk of the story.
TVLINE | Was the unique plan for Carol to go away with Daryl when he set off in search of Rick and Michonne?
Yeah, that was the unique plan till a couple months earlier than we shot it. [Ed. note: Melissa McBride was initially set to star with Norman Reedus in a Daryl/Carol spinoff; in late April, the news broke that she would not be a part of the series.]
TVLINE | Were you dissatisfied that the spinoffs have been introduced on the time they have been? It form of tousled what ought to have been some actually suspenseful moments, like… would Carol go off the cliff? Would Negan be executed?
Yeah. I don’t need to get myself in hassle. [Laughs] It was undoubtedly on a inventive stage kind of difficult, as a result of when issues are introduced shouldn’t be actually in the fingers of the actors or producers or no matter. That’s extra the studio having to make bulletins for their very own timing causes. We are inclined to get a very quick heads up earlier than it occurs. It was upsetting to the actors, and we have been like, “Argh, some of our stories, with the assumption that this stuff would not be spoiled, play totally different now.” But we simply make the very best of it and hope that the emotional stakes nonetheless carry it doesn’t matter what.
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