The Walking Dead: Kirkman addresses cliffhanger anger
By Susie Graham
Fans are still reacting to the cliffhanger to season 6 of The Walking Dead. Robert Kirkman addressed the emotional response in the new issue of the comic today.
Issue #154 of The Walking Dead comic was released today. In the Letter Hacks section, Robert Kirkman wrote to television fans about the season 6 finale cliffhanger and the passionate response, promising a great season 7 premiere and much more of Negan to frighten and thrill us.
From the sound of the letter, the anger of fans was a little more than what the producers may have bargained for when they were planning the cliffhanger and the “to be continued” aspect of Negan’s kill going into season 7.
While all of the producers are standing by the decisions and the storytelling aspect of the thought process, Kirkman does offer an apology of sorts in his letter to the fans.
"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 planning 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!"
Season 7 has already started filming and usually they have thought out the entire season ahead of time, even if it’s not completely written. There is usually a big picture, story board or map of the direction of things in place. So hopefully, we will all be appropriately frightened and excited as promised.
There is still plenty of time to get through the grief of not knowing and to prepare for the anticipation and excitement of October. We should all enjoy a long summer first. July will bring an entire new set of misdirection for us with promo posters, interviews and trailers when the crew hits San Diego for Comic Con!
Via Comicbook.Com