I will not lie I kind of fangirled at the AMC Walking Dead Press Conference during SDCC 2016 and all I can say is ‘I’m just happy to be here’. The press conference had the Production Team: Scott Gimple, Exec Producer/Showrunner, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert – Executive Producers and Greg Nicotero, Director/Special Effects Make-up Supervisor. Cast members: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Michael Cudlitz, Sonequa Martin-Green, Christian Serratos, Ross Marquand, Josh McDermitt and Jeffrey Dean Morgan who answered questions about the upcoming and past seasons, new characters and the comic book series.
The cast of the series is so big they split it into two parts <yoinks> and I got to ask one question <hurrah> but didn’t record it <bah> since we were told NO recordings but afterwards realized nobody else followed the rules but me <wah>.
This upcoming season of The Walking Dead (7th) will have a few new characters from the comic book series but they are a few years behind. Especially since they read the series and ‘know’ what’s coming around the bend for instant the dumpster episode was tough. They do read the tweets/blogs/fandom but don’t allow it to affect series decisions but they do respect fandom reaction. Of course a comic book pacing is different than a television series but fans of each and/or both are completely invested so the team wants to respect them and know that it’s a lifetime commitment with no real end in sight.
As a TV series fan I do know about the comic book series and have seen a few episodes. But since I’m only TV every season is a huge surprise with the who, what and why. My friends that read the comic book have to be warned for <no spoilers> but the producers did drop a few hints during the press conference that TWD world is expanding and that we’ll meet new groups of survivors. Which should add a lot of drama AND a tiger .. a CG Tiger <guffaw> that we saw in the trailer. I’ve heard about Shiva but wasn’t sure what/who and how that would affect the series but the trailer makes those new survivors totally bad ass but am not sure if they are what I’d call ‘good’ but of course the ‘nice’ wouldn’t survive a zombie apocalypse! The series is currently in VA but they said that we might get to see another region of the world with a new kind of weather. I’m hoping winter since I’d assume freezing cold would slow down zombies … I’m no scientist but zombies can freeze right??
As much as I’m team Rick and the rest of my survivor crew they were just too much of a bull in a china shop who always seemed to win and eventually (in real life). Even the biggest bully will meet an even BIGGER bully to knock them down and that’s happened with the introduction of Negan. We’ve gotten clues that someone was in charge with an even bigger more vicious group but I had no idea just how bad this other group will turn out to be in the upcoming season. I mean this past summer having to wait till October to find out who he plans to beat to death has had me on pins and needles! Sorry to say if we have to say goodbye to someone I’m fine with Maggie. How can you have a baby with zombies running around loose???
As I mentioned before I got to ask ONE question about Rick ending up with Michonne. The producers said that (paraphrase): It’s an amazing group of people and be embraced (that they embraced Michonne aka Danai Gurira) new cast members. The character Andrea in the comic book ended up with Rick but we decided to do something difference. I was in charge of the show. When he pitched it I was happy to have it happen. Sometimes in TV shows when you feel the chemistry between cast members in the moment you have to allow the characters to evolve and make room for development.
When the press conference concluded some of the cast members stayed behind to talk with press members. I made a beeline for Rick Grimes aka Andrew Lincoln and asked well more stated that the scene when he and Michonne were in bed … well I just giggled than said always thought that he needed to be with a strong woman. Andrew laughed and said (paraphrase). ‘Me too I’ve been waiting for that for a long time’. <scream> so wish I’d recorded it but didn’t realize he’d answer my question!
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