Jeffrey Dean Morgan shocked AMC unveiled Walking Dead spinoff so early

The Walking Dead fans are now all well aware that the show is ending with the current season 11. In fact, fans learned that this ahead of some of the cast and crew, including showrunner Angela Kang and the show’s lead actors.

Talking to Collider last year, Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan revealed that he was among those kept in the dark. The announcement threw the whole production into chaos, and all while everyone was dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“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,” said Morgan. “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.”

Morgan expanded on his comments this past week as a guest on The Rich Eisen Show, where he again seemed irritated by the quality of communication from AMC. Morgan, who will appear in a new Walking Dead spinoff set in New York, Isle of The Walking Dead, said that the announcement of the new show seemingly spoils the rest of Negan’s journey in season 11. “Now that we’ve announced that there’s going to be a spin-off, I guess we don’t need to die,” he said. “Spoiler Alert, folks. Sorry! I’m still not sure why we announced that already. It was sort of a shocker to me.”

Ironically, Morgan also said that he is “under orders not to say anything [about the ending] but to continue to talk about it.” This is despite AMC seemingly giving away that Negan survives the series finale. Like we said, they’re not the best at communication.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is ready to finish The Walking Dead: “It’s time to go”

Shooting on the main series, meanwhile, is almost complete. While many will undoubtedly be sad to see the show conclude after 11 seasons on the air, it sounds like Morgan could use a break:

"It’s a lot, but I gotta tell you, man. We’ve been here for 17-18 months. It’s time to go, you know what I mean? I think if it were a regular season and we were only shooting 16 episodes — we did 30 this year — there would be a lot more emotion. But at this point, everybody is just ready to be done and ready to go home."

We won’t see the six-part Isle of the Walking Dead, which will reunite Morgan with Lauren Cohan (Maggie) until 2023. AMC is also planning a Walking Dead anthology series and, in another spoiler, a show about Daryl and Carol.

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