‘The Walking Dead’ Cast and Producers Talk the Series Finale and Spin-Offs at San Diego Comic-Con

It is the end of an era for The Walking Dead, a show that has dominated the convention circuit throughout its decade reign.

Comic-Con attendees hardly remember a time when their badges didn’t sport the apocalyptic drama’s latest promotional art, and Hall-H wasn’t overrun by zombified fans. But even as this chapter ends, another dozen begin in the form of spin-offs.

During a press conference at San Diego Comic-Con, cast members Norman Reedus, Josh McDermitt, Seth Gilliam, Cailey Fleming, Lauren Ridloff, and Michael James Shaw, and producers Angela Kang, Greg Nicotero, and Scott M. Gimple spoke with reporters about that fateful series finale and the next generation of stories.

This Isn’t Goodbye

It seems like The Walking Dead would go on forever, with its rotting antagonists a metaphor for the show’s longevity. So the announcement that the show would end after eleven seasons shocked more than just its fans.

“We were going off an assumption that we were continuing the saga for a while, but things change,” Chief Content Officer Scott Gimple admitted. As for how the series finale will serve its expanding franchise, Gimple said the spin-offs will “fold into some issues nicely.”

But the spin-offs are not the priority of this flag-ship show’s final episodes, and the producers wanted to clarify that intent.

“The finale is about completing The Walking Dead story, not setting up spin-offs. There’s room for those spin-offs, but the finale concludes the story of these eleven years, and we didn’t want the spin-offs to get in the way of that satisfaction. But they live together very nicely,” added Gimple.

“The goal, even with no spin-offs, is it would feel like there is a closure to the series because the show needs its own ending,” Showrunner Angela Kang explained. “But the doors are left open, as they so often are in life, and they were even in the ending of the comic. There’s always a story continuing once the story you tell has ended.”

Sticking the Landing

The Walking Dead panelists understood the pressures that fall on the finale to be the best, despite eleven seasons of stand-out episodes.

“We definitely felt like we had an obligation to make sure this landed,” Director Greg Nicotero included. “Everybody on set, the cast and crew, were saying we can’t screw this up because all eyes generally end up on the last episode.”

“You talk about Seinfeld, M*A*S*H, all these great shows we love, and most of the time the historical relevance of the show is judged on the last episode. So we really struggled, agonized, and buckled down to make sure it serves the fans of the show.”

As for specifics, “There were moments I shot of each of these people that serve their characters and are really emotional,” Nicotero confessed.

“This is something that has been so important to our fans and to the community who stuck with us. We are all passionate about this show; we all love the show and each other. So we want to do it right,” Kang said, adding that production is working on the closing processes of the finale.

Rick and Michonne Return

Coming off the cusp of a huge Hall-H announcement that Rick and Michonne would return to the franchise for a limited series in 2023, the press conference was buzzing with anticipation to hear more.

While Gimple urged those in attendance not to press for information, he could confirm the basics of the project. “We’re doing the show for AMC+. We’re doing six episodes. It’s an epic love story. And that’s it — that’s all I can say.”

As for the cast reactions to hearing two of their castmates would be returning to The Walking Dead universe, there was little room for fanfare. “We knew already,” Norman Reedus smirked.

“There was a conversation Norman had about a year ago where he goes, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if…?'” Nicotero recalled. “It’s funny because it feels like a long time ago they left the show, storywise. But we all keep in touch and have conversations about this and that.”

Batman, Robin, and Bernthal

Nicotero also remembered an early conversation about Rick’s return where Reedus said, “Man, Rick, and Daryl better get back together. I like being the Robin to his Batman.'”

“When you’re Robin, you get to be more of an asshole,” Reedus pointed out. He then pivoted into a question more than a few fans have pondered over the years, “Didn’t [Jon] Bernthal get offered Rick at one point, and he chose Shane instead?” the actor asked the panel.

“I don’t know if it was a choice. He was in the running,” Gimple confirmed. “He definitely auditioned for Rick,” Kang added, unearthing a “what if” situation that would have certainly been interesting.

But the Bernthal discussion doesn’t stop there because once Shane was brought up, the outpour of love for the actor’s performance flooded in from the rest of the panel.

“I loved and hated him more than anybody,” Josh McDermitt lovingly reminisced. “He’s so right in his way of thinking, and you agree with him, but you still hate him. It didn’t matter what scene he was in, it was so charged. I would have loved to work with Bernthal, and I wish he had been in episodes closer to when I came on the show.”

Zombie-Sized Easter Eggs

Nicotero has been paying homage to the undead genre for years as Special Effects Makeup Supervisor of The Walking Dead.

Known for including nods to other famous zombie projects in his work for the show, he explained, “It’s just my way of being able to tell fans that we’re on this experience together, and give them some little nuggets.”

And the SFX expert says we can expect plenty of Easter eggs when the series returns. “There’s stuff coming up in the premiere. There might be one that might be a little obvious, but it’s fun,” Nicotero teased.

“It’s always to pay tribute to a genre I love, and I feel like we’ve done every trippy walker we could have, so we have drifted into other genres in a couple of episodes coming up.”

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The final episodes of The Walking Dead air October 2, 2022, on AMC.

And check out all of our San Diego Comic-Con coverage right here!

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