In the season six finale of The Walking Dead, fans were treated to one of the most devastating cliffhangers of all time: someone died gruesomely at the end of Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) bat, but fans had to wait months for the reveal. To say that it took its toll on the fandom would be an understatement. On top of the devastating loss of Glenn (Steven Yuen) and Abe (Michael Cudlitz), a lot of fans felt like prolonging the deaths felt like a cheap ploy to keep viewers hooked. Consequently, ratings took a tumble (while still staying higher than most shows, granted) and have struggled to recover all season.
From the looks of things, the people crafting the show have taken this season’s struggles to heart and have made a very specific choice about the upcoming finale. Showrunner Scott Gimple tells The Hollywood Reporter that fans will not be punished with a cliffhanger this time around.
“Doing it again in the same way isn’t what we do. We did a big cliffhanger at the end of season four. We tried to mix it up and not go back to that because there is a definitive conclusion to the end of the season.”
So, we’ll actually find out who dies this time? Still, just because it’s cliffhanger-free doesn’t mean it’ll be short on plot propulsion. If Gimple’s description doesn’t excited fans, they might be undead themselves.
“There is a gathering storm. There’s a lot of story that is promised in the future. The last two episodes bring everything together from this season: there’s unbelievable action, emotion, some romance and some tragedy; there’s a couple weird moments and there’s a couple funny moments. It’s really the entirety of the season compressed in two episodes. It’s sort of a greatest hits, if you will.”
Gird your loins. The seventh season of The Walking Dead airs at 9 pm EST on Sunday, April 2 on AMC.
(Via THR)
