The Walking Dead: Lennie James/Steven Yeun discuss finale
By Susie Graham
The cast has been weighing in on Negan and the finale script for season 6 of The Walking Dead. Steven Yeun and Lennie James now add their thoughts.
So far Lauren Cohan, Andrew Lincoln, Greg Nicotero, Melissa McBride and Ross Marquardt have had significant things to say about their reactions to the script for the finale of season 6.
It promises to be dark and intense. The cast has had quite dramatic reactions, even becoming sick to the stomach and without words after reading it.
Steven Yeun and Lennie James have opened up about their thoughts now. Both include the word that hasn’t been mentioned yet. The Voldemort or Keyser Sose of The Walking Dead. He who won’t be named or he who is all of us: Negan.
The other cast members didn’t mention Negan. Steven and Lennie did. Steven is connected to Negan in a way that most fans know even if they haven’t read the comics. But the show doesn’t always follow the comics.
"“That’s the beauty of the adaptation. There is something to be said about something being predictable. I’m sure there are iconic moments, but at the same time, we want to keep this show as fresh and alive as possible, and we’re going to tell that story that exists for the world we’ve created. And it is inspired by the world Robert Kirkman has created, but it’s also its own entity, to some degree. So, yeah. I mean, we’ll see what happens.” (Via Entertainment Weekly)"
Steven talks about the show’s fearlessness, which is something I’ve always admired. You can’t please everyone all the time with your decisions. You might even wish you’d done certain things differently in hindsight, but if you don’t really take the risks you want to take, you’ll never know. I also believe that even mistakes lead to better things.
"I mean, we go for it. The thing that I can be most proud about on this show is that year after year we just continue to go for it. Whether we fail or whether we succeed, we just go for it. And things are tough. The conditions are tough. I would love for someone to come out and check out what a day of filming can be like. I could show you pictures that I took where you can see my entire leg all up the side completely covered in disgusting bruises. And that’s not just me. That’s everyone. Everyone has something happen every year. Yes, it’s brutal what happens story-wise with all the things that we try to tell near the end. But it’s also what we’ve always been going for.” (Via EW)"
Lennie James speaks more directly about the writing and of the hype and of the man himself to Comicbook.com:
"“Firstly, it is a phenomenal piece of writing. Secondly, it is one of the greatest introductions of a character that I can remember in any television series, let alone in our television series. It’s a phenomenal entrance. I don’t want to build it up too much but it’s probably too late now. It’s amazing.For me, it was two things really. One was it was a sense of, ‘Oh, my god. That’s gonna be amazing.’ Two was a desire to see it come to fruition and, from all intents and purposes and everything I know, it’s fantastic. Jaws are gonna drop and people are gonna lose their shit, if you don’t mind me saying. It’s gonna blow some people’s minds and break some people’s hearts.”"
We know Kirkman has said Negan’s introduction will be bone-chilling. Lennie’s description along with the reactions of the cast members paints an amazing picture of this moment.
Many fans love to try to predict and speculate what might happen. I love the vague descriptions. I love the anticipation and the mystery. I want my jaw to drop and my heart to break authentically. I don’t want to guess or predict. I want to have the same experience that the cast had.
Next: Cast Talks the Dark Finale
Three more episodes to go until this experience. We have two other episodes filled with more wonderful things. Every episode has its own weight. Its own pace. Its own beauty. Its own The Walking Dead-ness.
P.S. people say if certain characters die, they will riot. I hope AMC is able to contain spoilers. I say, if the finale is spoiled, I riot!