After the whole 'Glenn and the dumpster' fiasco, you'd think The Walking Dead bosses might change their approach when it came to the season six cliffhanger. But no. That climactic scene saw long-touted villain Negan face down Rick's survivors, swinging his infamous wire-wrapped bat into the head of... well, that's the thing. We still don't know who died. Shooting the closing moments of the season from the perspective of the victim was all part of AMC's plan to keep suspense brewing for, like, eight months.
But the network's not leaving anything to chance. AMC has already taken legal action against one group insistent on amassing set photos of the upcoming season. In order to maintain this secret until the season seven premiere, it was decided that those snap-happy spoilerhounds needed to be kept in check. How? In a pretty horrific way, actually. By filming death scenes for every member of Rick's group present during Negan's bat-swingin' session.
That means the cast and crew filmed takes of Rick, Carl, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Abraham, Sasha, Daryl, Eugene, Aaron, and Rosita each getting brutally slain. This way, if any sneaky photos or video of a death scene make their way online, there's no definitive way to know for sure if that's the person who's going to be killed. Sources at THR - who broke the news - say that producers and the episode director will work together with the show's editors and "pick the character who does indeed die."
Aside from the fact that shooting such a harrowing, intense scene OVER AND OVER probably wore down everyone's morale, there's a silver lining. That's eleven takes of beloved characters butchered beyond recognition; perfect outtake material for a very dark gag reel.
Images: AMC
