If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, then the season six finale left you with a lot of feelings. Even if you aren’t a fan of The Walking Dead but have been anywhere near Facebook or Twitter for the past several months, you probably know about the cliffhanger ending of the season six finale.
But if The Walking Dead‘s season finale left you in a state of anxiety, you may be slightly comforted to know that it doesn’t look like the show will be ending another season on a traumatic cliffhanger.
Whew.
Robert Kirkman, who created The Walking Dead‘s comic and is the executive producer for the AMC series sat down with Entertainment Weekly and talked about that traumatic season six cliffhanger and the future of series.
When asked what his reaction was to the fans’ response to the cliffhanger, Kirman said, “Look, I think as a creative person I have to acknowledge that all responses are valid, so I definitely have to take note that there’s a seemingly significant portion of the audience that wasn’t happy with that direction, so in that respect I think everyone on The Walking Dead creative team has taken note of that, and I don’t know that I would expect a similar cliffhanger at the end of season 7.”
So I think we can all let out a sigh or relief that the series would put us through this type of agony that comes with a cliffhanger season finale. That, of course, isn’t to say that The Walking Dead won’t break any more hearts in the future. After all, we still have to live through the season seven premiere and the revelation of whom Negan kills.
In the interview, Kirkman explains why they chose to end the sixth season the way they did, saying, “You get to season 6 on a show and you try new things and sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t, but I would hope that after enjoying six seasons of the show people would recognize that, everything that [showrunner] Scott Gimple is putting together is an effort to keep the show exciting, and engaging, and keeping everybody excited about it.”
Despite the negative response to the cliffhanger, The Walking Dead can probably count on its fans to tune in to the season seven premiere to find out who lives and who dies.
The decision to stay clear of cliffhanger finales in the future might also be due to, aside from the poor reception from fans, the season six finale was down in its ratings compared to the season five finale.
The Walking Dead will return with season seven on October 23 on AMC.