Fans of The Walking Dead still aren’t over the season six finale, in which the new bad guy on the block, Negan, kills… someone. It’s the head-squishing mystery — and all the speculation it inspired — that still has certain viewers fuming, or in the words of one Redditor, “You had a perfect script already in place, but instead we get a cheap ratings grab with no emotion payoff at all.”
Robert Kirkman hosted a Reddit AMA to talk about his new “promising and terrifying” show for Cinemax, Outcast, but the conversation turned to The Walking Dead, and specifically, the season finale. To Kirkman’s credit, he didn’t pull a Steven Seagal and ignore the questions — he answered them honestly.
Here’s a typical query.
My question is this: what the f*ck was the Season 6 dumpster-fire-abortion of a finale? You had a perfect script already in place but instead we get a cheap ratings grab with no emotion payoff at all. This could have been TWD‘s “Red Wedding” TV moment, but its all ruined. There will be no emotional impact when we find out who died come Season 7. The whole point of the scene is to witness uncensored, undivided brutality, and it serves as an eye-opening experience to the characters and the audience. Why did they throw it all away? Not only that, but when the fans (comic and show alike) are outraged afterword about the terrible writing – all build up and zero delivery – the shows producers were calling us immature children and “It’s a gift to the fans! Something ‘fun’ for us all to talk about for the next seven months!” That is beyond insulting to a loyal fanbase that cares about the quality and story of the show. I actually feel like a f*cking idiot for hyping people up for Negan and getting people so excited for that finale before hand.
Second question: Who’s idea was the sh*tty Goldeneye 64 blood running down the screen after beating the cameraman to death?
Kirkman’s reply:
I just want to point out that a lot of what you seem to hate about the finale are your assumptions of how season 7 will start. The death will have no impact now, etc. I assure you it will. You’re welcome to be unhappy with the episode that aired. Was it a misstep? Maybe. Only time will tell.
Also, there’s a lot of assumptions about why we did what we did, “ratings grab” which also isn’t true.
That said, I love you for watching 6 seasons of the show and reading the comic. I appreciate the support up to this point and I’m sorry your unhappy. Standing by our decision doesn’t mean I think you’re immature in any way or wrong to feel the way you do. I just know how much the fanbase is treasured and respected behind the scenes so it bums me out when people make a lot of assumtions.
Scott Gimple is a great guy who EVERY FAN would love if they could get to know him. And he LOSES SLEEP trying to make the fan base happy. It may not seem that way, but it is. He loves the comic as much as the die hard fans of the comics do, he was a die hard fan of the comic before the show existed.
Hopefully you’ll like season 7 better. If not… may I recommend OUTCAST… or Game of Thrones… or The Americans… or Better Call Saul. There really is a LOT of amazing television to choose from these days. I really liked Bloodlines on Netflix. And if you like animation, RICK & MORTY is the BEST THING BEING MADE THESE DAYS.
Secondly, Scott Gimple is a huge Goldeneye fan and is angry that you called the game “sh*tty.”
So, why did The Walking Dead season six end on a cliffhanger? Because, “RICK & MORTY is the BEST THING BEING MADE THESE DAYS.” That’s the best possible answer, except for maybe this one.
Hey Mr.Kirkman. You seem to have some delusion that a large portion of the fanbase loved the Season 6 finale. Possibly because people around you are biased or don’t want to hurt your feelings. You are wrong. Most of us hated it. It’s not just “some” of us that dislike it. Stop trying to justify it. Yeah, we’re talking about it. Similar to how we talk about Hitler. The overwhelming response is negative. Regardless of your “intent,” people are not excited. My question is: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
I think you’re mistaking an explanation for an excuse or a justification. I personally liked it. Scott Gimple and I spent many months going over exactly how to stage it and how to adapt that scene. Many options were discussed. I do strongly believe that when you watch the season 7 premiere (if you do) you will see the two halves of the story and it will all make sense why we did what we did. But a whole heck of a lot of you folks are unhappy. I’m not kidding myself about that. Season 7 is very strong, we know what’s coming. If you stick around… you’ll like where we’re taking things.…
Embarrassed that I totally missed your joke! My favorite flavor of ice cream is Negan killed Carl.
There you have it, folks.
(Via Reddit)
