Jeffrey Dean Morgan: The Walking Dead ending was a “complete surprise”

Fans of The Walking Dead have largely come to terms with the fact that the long-running zombie series is coming to an end with the upcoming season 11. Sure, AMC has softened the blow with an extended 24-episode final season, as well as a large number of spin-offs in development. Nevertheless, devoted fans remain disappointed it’s happening so soon.

Interestingly, according to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, even the show’s biggest stars were surprised by the announcement. Speaking with Collider, Morgan explained how he and his co-workers learned the news. “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. [The Walking Dead boss] Scott Gimple and [showrunner] Angela Kang had no idea either,” the actor 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."

This has me fearful that AMC is ending the show too soon. HBO received a lot criticism after it ended Game of Thrones with a pair of shortened seasons. It’s also interesting because, a year before the announcement, it didn’t sound like AMC had any intention of ending the series. Their thinking must have changed; to hear Morgan tell it, the show was cancelled, not allowed to bow out on its own terms. Hopefully the network knows what it’s doing.

How does The Walking Dead end?

If we look to The Walking Dead comics by Robert Kirkman, it shouldn’t be surprising that the show is ending about now: our heroes have just encountered the Commonwealth, which is the final civilization they deal with in the comics. Whether it will recreate the ending of the comic is a different question, since the show has already taken some of the characters involved down different paths.

Season 11 will drop later this year. We can expect to see more of the Commonwealth, a highly advanced community teased in episodes like “Splinter.” AMC has been dropping plenty of teasers for the final season lately, the latest of which involves a courtroom:

Before we can watch the final season, we still have one last episode of season 10. On Sunday, AMC premieres “Here’s Negan,” an origin story for the villain. You don’t want to miss this one!

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