It goes without saying that The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live was one of the most highly-anticipated shows of the past decade. The spinoff was years in the making and it was designed to give Rick Grimes and Michonne the long-awaited reunion we had been waiting nearly a decade to see, all while attempting to resolve their respective arcs at the same time - just in case stars Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira didn't return to the franchise after that.
Although the TWD Universe offshoot received critical acclaim, with many citing it as one of the strongest seasons in the franchise's two-decade history, there was some criticism directed towards its ending, the finale in general, and how abruptly it all ended - something that went down even less well with audiences when it was subsequently revealed that the show was always intended to be a miniseries. It turns out that the man in charge of the whole franchise had thoughts about the abrupt ending, too.
TWD boss on The Ones Who Live's sudden ending
Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Scott M. Gimple, recently appeared on an episode of The Brandon Davis Show to discuss the legacy of the TWD franchise. During the course of the hour-long conversation, host Brandon Davis brought up The Ones Who Live, praising the show while also pointing out that his one criticism was how quickly it wrapped up in the finale. It turns out that Gimple agrees:
"That's all of our criticism! We wanted more. I mean six episodes is harder than sixteen and... I loved it, but you have to understand that, near the end of the fifth episode, that's when the strike hit and there were also just some challenges production-wise towards the end."
The series finale of the Walking Dead spinoff saw Rick and Michonne successfully defeat the long-time villain of the whole franchise, the Civic Republic Military, destroying their base and successfully returning home to Alexandria to reunite with their children Judith and RJ. It checked all the boxes and delivered what fans wanted, but it also felt very rushed in doing so.
A large portion of the finale sees Rick and Major General Jonathan Beale (Terry O'Quinn) have a lengthy conversation, leaving little room for the rest of it. And, so, when Rick and Michonne defeated the villains with relative ease, some fans felt that the abrupt conclusion left it all feeling a little underwhelming.
Gimple was open to the idea of telling a more in-depth story that would have paced better with audiences, but it sounds like it just wasn't feasible. As he reveals to Davis:
"I look at that last episode and there's aspects of it that I'm very proud of because of certain limitations that we were under, but yeah I could have done three to four more episodes. And if that show was about Rick and Michonne, and telling deep stories about that intersected, we did have a great story."
It is true that The Ones Who Live told a wonderful story. In many ways, it told the story that The Walking Dead couldn't, as it allowed Rick and Michonne to have their happy ending after both Lincoln and Gurira's respective departures from the main show in seasons 9 and 10. Although both would return for The Walking Dead's series finale, those were cameo appearances designed to set up their own offshoot. And to say that The Ones Who Live delivered would be an understatement.
All that being said, it's hard to argue with the fact that the finale felt rushed. As fans weren't aware of the fact that the show was only going to be one-season-long, the abrupt ending was even more of a surprise to them: So for the pair to defeat the big bad of the franchise, survive a massive explosion without much time for aftermath and make their way back to Alexandria in the space of 40-ish minutes, it all just felt very fast. And considering how fans had waited close to a decade for the big reunion, they deserved a longer epilogue than that.
With all of that in mind, it's good to know that Scott Gimple doesn't just see the fans' point but actively agrees with it. Hey, maybe if that long-awaited Walking Dead reunion crossover does come to fruition (like he is hoping it will), there will be a chance to remedy at least some of that. Here's hoping that's the case!
Wathc the full interview with Scott Gimple here:
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