The Walking Dead: Cancelled? Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says Season 11 Wasn’t Supposed to Be Show’s End!
Published on April 1st, 2021 | Updated on April 1st, 2021 | By FanFest
AMC confirmed last year that The Walking Dead is set to come to an end after its 11th season. The show has dominated the cable ratings, but in recent years those ratings have fallen off quickly. The announcement of the show’s end shocked fans at the time, but it appears it also came as a surprise to the show’s cast.
Speaking to Collider, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Negan, revealed that once they got word of the series ending, it came as a shock to him, his co-stars, and even showrunner Angela Kang.
“The news, when we got it in the middle of the pandemic, was a complete surprise, not only to me and the rest of the actors, but to everybody involved in the show from production. Scott Gimple and Angela Kang had no idea either,” Morgan said.
“It came from nowhere and there was such a huge pivot. I think they had season 11 all mapped out, where they were going to go, and suddenly it became, ‘We also have to close the story, in a way.’
“It took everybody by surprise, so it was a massive pivot. And then, they threw in the six tacked-on episodes to season 10, and instead of doing 16, we’re going to do 24 more. There was a lot of stuff to wrap our heads around.”
However, Morgan also gave a positive update on the 11th season, saying that it “feels bigger than previous seasons”.
“I think everyone is keenly aware that it is our last year, as far as the writers and stuff. It feels good,” he added. “It feels like the story is really good.
“I’ve only seen the first four scripts, and they’re great. There’s so far no reference and no feeling in the story that it’s ending at all. It’s opening up all of these new chapters that are really interesting and cool. I’m excited.”
Earlier this month, Morgan’s co-star Melissa McBride, who plays Carol Peletier, admitted that it was “very difficult” to think about the long-running show coming to an end.
“It’s heavy to think about how long we’ve been doing this – the relationships that we’ve formed; the shared experience of being a part of something so phenomenological. That will never go away. We will always have the shared experience,” McBride said.
“And leaving it – there’s this whole ocean of work; there’s so much material that we’re all very proud of.
“Again, the shared creative experience of being a part of this Robert Kirkman world that overtook so much – it just became such a big thing. To think of that coming to any sort of end is very difficult.”
However, The Walking Dead franchise isn’t going anywhere. AMC must think that it just needs a fresh start. Already in the planning phases of production are several spinoffs and a movie. Nearly two years ago, AMC announced that Andrew Lincoln would return as Rick Grimes in a series of films. The network then announced several spinoffs last summer that included a Daryl and Carol show and then an anthology series called Tales of The Walking Dead. The latter show is intriguing, as it will explore stories from favorite past characters that may have taken place before we met them.
What do you think about the “surprise” that AMC ended The Walking Dead earlier than planned? Let us know in the comments below!
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I’m very upset as well as many fans are there is still so much to tell years of stories if nothing else bring the fear the walking dead and the walking dead together don’t kill it we love our shows
This is the most upsetting thing that has happened. I don’t get to enjoy a lot but I do enjoy my nights I get to sit down and watch TWD. To have this show canceled is heart breaking. Please reconsider before you loose all your viewers over this. We need TWD to continue
Please don’t take the walking dead away. I’ve watched it every season. It won’t be the same without it.
I have the last three years on my Dvd.I’ve watched since the first episode. I love Rick and Carol and Daryl and Carl, and Michonne but my favorite was Glenn.After his death it was not the same. It made me mad that they killed him off because of the comic book, then they made the very bad move to kill Carl off! It killed the direction of the whole show.
I must have watched every season of TWD at least 5 times over. It’s part of life. And won’t be the same not seeing the series ever again. Spin offs are fine but there’s only one TWD & FTWD. Gonna be a huge miss. ☹️
This is upsetting really enjoying my Sundays night watching the show, my favorite show of all time….. very sad this had to end very disappointed of amc to do this, it’s gunna bring the other shows down, once’s you bring the mothership down the rest falls, spin off don’t do well then you think ask criminal minds etc….
Very up setting your closing it down favorit shoHlen w. Miss take with Glen and Carl but is what it is. Please if ending the show LET IT GO OFF WITH A GOOD ENDING LOVE THEM ALL!!