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‘The Walking Dead’: Norman Reedus Explains His Strategy For Final Scene With Andrew Lincoln

Walking Dead fans are currently on hiatus along with their favorite show after a pretty eventful first half of season 9. In it, we finally said goodbye to Rick Grimes.

His exit caused a bit of the storm on the series, because he technically leaves the group he’s been with for 8 seasons high and dry. It’s not by his own volition though-sort of. He does believe he’s saving the group by blowing himself and the bridge up to let the herd of walkers pour into the rushing river. In perhaps the biggest example of Dramatic Irony in the show’s entire history, the audience sees that Rick survives the blow and washes up on a nearby bank. The group, however, does not. They believe Rick is actually dead.

This includes Daryl, played by star Norman Reedus. In the episode, our hearts break as Daryl’s face gets all scrunched up and he cries for the loss of his best friend Rick. Reedus is opening up about filming the final scene with actor Andrew Lincoln. he spoke with new cast member of the show, and Fantastic Beasts star Dan Fogler on his Podcast, Dan Fogler’s 4D Experience.

“I remember that last final scene with him on the bridge — Greg [Nicotero], who directed that episode, was like, ‘What do you want to do here?’ And I knew everyone was gonna run in and try to save him, but the deal was, because he and I are so tight on that show, I wanted to get there first and see that he’s f—ed, there’s no way he’s going to get out of this,”

Hold your breath, because it gets more emotional,

And I wanted — like somebody dying on their deathbed, I wanted to be there holding his hand. Like, ‘I know you’re not gonna make it, but I’m here with you, I want you to see my face on the way out. There’s only so many arrows I have, there’s a million walkers about to step on him, there’s no way he’s getting out of this. So I wanted to play it like I’m gonna hold his hand through it, and I think it came across that way.”

He said the sequence was actually shot in all different bits and pieces, so in reality the whole thing wasn’t as dramatic as it was able to look on screen.

“We had to reshoot things because certain people didn’t think that made sense that some people ran into it and some people didn’t, so we had to shoot extra bits and pieces to add in there and stuff, but I wanted to hold my ground and play that like that,”

Rick did survive, and Jadis currently has him off somewhere in a helicopter.

We’ll see him again, as Lincoln has signed on for a slew of Walking Dead films, so we will look forward to seeing what Rick Grimes story has left to tell. Jadis actress Pollyanna McIntosh had this to say about the A and B obsessed community that sweeps them away to safety,

“There will definitely be more of an understanding of the community that they came from and that I’m going to with them, so yes.”

She also told fans that plans for the film are in progress as we speak.

According to Comicbook.com, Reedus once shared that he and Lincoln had struck a deal that they’d exit the show together when the time came. That has changed.

“He and I had a deal, he was like, ‘I’m not gonna leave the show unless you leave the show.’ And we made that deal a couple seasons ago. And he came to me, and people are like, ‘What do you think of him leaving?’ I’m like, I knew he was gonna leave like a year before everyone else. I can’t be mad at him. He’s got two little kids, and he’s been away from them for nine years. I get it.”

We can safely know that Reedus along with Carol actress Melissa McBride will be on the show for at least 3 more years, as they recently signed large deals locking them in with AMC and The Walking Dead Universe as well.

The Walking Dead returns February 10th to AMC.