Ever since Rick Grimes woke up in the hospital to find that the world had been taken over by zombies in The Walking Dead season 1, fans have been pondering how the series will end. Will there be a cure? Who will die? Will the group finally find a safe home? And now, over a decade on, we’re mere weeks away from seeing the conclusion. According to director Greg Nicotero, the finale will satisfy the show’s most ardent viewers: “It’s a pretty amazing episode.”
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Nicotero revealed that he always wanted to direct the finale, and showrunner Angela Kang granted his wish. But given the amount of expectation heaped on the episode, he felt an immense responsibility. “I felt the weight of pressure on me, and I’m proud of what we did,” he said.
Directing aside, Nicotero is also a special makeup effects expert, and weighed in on how many zombies we should expect to see in the finale: “Is it zombie-heavy or zombie-light? Well, even if the script had said ‘two or three zombies’, I’d need more like 200 or 300,” he teased.
Nicotero looks back on his work on the series finale with utmost pride. I mean, we expect him to say this; we’d all be a bit worried if he said it was terrible.
"It’s a pretty amazing episode. I put my heart and soul into it. It was rough. I said to Norman [Reedus] one day, ‘Man, if I can make it through this, I can do anything. I can direct a Star Wars movie, I can direct anything that lands in front of me.’ I’m proud of it."
Nicotero has been working on the show from the very beginning as a makeup artist and director. As you can imagine, the last day on set was an emotional experience. “On the last day of The Walking Dead, I shot a little video of me and Norman on set,” he said. “We talked about 12 years together, all the stuff that we had done. Like when the scripts would come out and Andy and Norman would come over to my house and we would read them together. We’d been in the trenches together for over a decade.”
I really hope he releases the video he filmed with Reedus!
The titles of the final Walking Dead episodes revealed!
Episode titles are always interesting, but they carry a little extra weight as we head towards the last ever installments of the show. Take a look at the titles for the last eight episodes of The Walking Dead:
- 11×17 — “Lockdown”
- 11×18 — “A New Deal”
- 11×19 — “Variant”
- 11×20 — “What’s Been Lost”
- 11×21 — “Outpost 22”
- 11×22 — “Faith”
- 11×23 — “Family”
- 11×24 — “Rest in Peace”
Those final three episodes sound particularly emotional. As it happens, the series finale, “Rest in Peace,” is named after the final volume of The Walking Dead comics. I’m also excited to see the dawn of the new variant of walkers, who can apparently climb walls and open doors, in Episode 19!
The end is upon us. The final episodes of The Walking Dead air weekly from October 2. Watch the trailer, and prepare for tears:
Rick and Michonne’s reunion will be “mindblowing”
After the finale, there are a whole lot of Walking Dead spinoff shows on the way, including one about Rick and Michonne, who both left the mainline show a while back. Speaking at the AMC Networks Summit in New York, franchise boss Scott Gimple wouldn’t give much away, but did say that the series will take place in a completely new location, reminding fans that Rick “discovered a new world” when he came out of his coma in the first-ever episode of The Walking Dead.
As to where this new location, use your imagination, cause we don’t know. But Gimple promises the reunion will be “mindblowing” wherever it happens. “These are two people that have been separated for a very long time. They’ve lived whole other existences and they have to find themselves again, let alone each other.”
Expect the Rick and Michonna show to be along sometime in 2023.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels