To say The Walking Dead season finale was explosive would be an understatement. Fans were frustrated by the extreme cliffhanger that left the big question of “Who got Lucille”d?” dangling until the beginning of Season 7. Perhaps we”d have been more forgiving if the back-half of Season 6 hadn”t been so uneven, or if the show hadn”t ALSO done the fake-out with Glenn”s death in the same season. Regardless, fans were pissed. Even our own Alan Sepinwall has washed his hands of the show completely.
After over a month of relative silence, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman finally apologized to fans. Kind of.
In the most recent issue of The Walking Dead comic, Kirkman wrote an open letter in the Letter Hacks section. He addressed fan concerns, before back-tracking into “Sorry you got your feelings hurt” territory.
Okay, the season 6 finale has certainly caused a fervor online. EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT. Some people love it. Some people are indifferent. Some people HATE it. We weren't trying to game the audience, we weren't trying to FORCE you to come back for season 7…. we hope you were always pllaning on doing that and still plan on doing that.
We did want you talk. And talk you are.
The speculation, the frustration, the possibilities, the theories… honestly, in my mind… that stuff is FUN. I honestly feel like that's something fun for the fans to do during the break. Was it Spencer? Could it have been Morgan? What about Carol? Did Negan kill Jesus?! (Note, none of them were there… I'm not giving ANYTHING away.) I know people are angry over this, but that wasn't our intent. The idea was that after 6 seasons of the show, we wanted to stay on your mind and give you something to talk about.
And think of it this way… a character you love and are going to miss is DEAD, and we gave you a few extra months to hope, to not grieve. Is there uncertainty? Yes. But that was kind of the idea.
But seriously. Everyone on TWD team wanted to do something cool. We wanted to do something different and we did it to change things up, get people excited and keep this show on your mind.
For some of you, that effort backfired and you're angry. And for that I'm sorry. The only thing I can PROMISE you is that the season 7 premiere is going to be awesome. And when viewed as a two-part episode (the same way EVERY SEASON of Star Trek: The Next Generation ended with the first half of a two-part episode that was a cliffhanger…), it's going to be a pretty awesome ride. And every minute of the season 6 finale was important and was setting something up that you probably won't see coming.
It's a cool episode… and remember… there's a LOT more for Negan to do. Be afraid… be very afraid. And excited!
What do you guys think? Is Kirkman”s apology enough to cool the flames of your rage? Or are you still done with The Walking Dead?
[Via ComicBook]