While speculating the death of a character on AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is an annual tradition, this sixth season took things to an entirely new level. There were rumors of Norman Reedus exiting the show to pursue films, which would have forced AMC to kill off Daryl Dixon, as well as various publications speculating the death of Steven Yeun’s Glenn Rhee.
The latter seemed most probable being that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was set to make his debut as the brutal Negan, who kills Glenn in Image and Robert Kirkman’s ongoing comic series.
The sixth season’s finale mirrored Negan’s violent entrance in the comic in which the new villain cracks some skulls with his barbed-wired baseball bat.
The show, however, hasn’t always gone by the book. So, when Negan lined up Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Daryl, Rosita, Carl, Maggie, Aaron, Eugene, Abraham and Sasha, fans of the franchise had no idea what to expect. Would the showrunners kill Glenn, as in the comics, or would they go in a completely different direction?
The season was filled with buildup, a volcano of tension ready to explode; viewers knew Negan was coming and that someone was going to die, but nobody expected a cliffhanger of such massive proportions.
Twitter nearly broke when the finale ended without any clarity, shifting the POV to leave viewers in the dark until this coming fall as to whom Negan murdered.
Good television leaves you wanting more, and the fact that some “The Walking Dead” fans are so angry is a testament to how passionately they love the show (this is a good thing!). Shit, comic arcs often end with cameos of new characters and massive cliffhangers to get you hooked into the next storyline. This is normal. But the reaction is anything but…
2016 is about immediacy, and there are select “The Walking Dead” fans who are stomping their feet like little children who are not getting the action figure they want at the toy store.
These fans have gone as far as to create petitions on Change.org demanding AMC reveal who died at the hands of Negan.
I would like AMC to show us who Negan killed in the Season 6 finale of The Walking Dead. We want this either in an interim episode that borders Season 6 and 7, or a short R-Rated webisode that shows us the death in all its bloody glory. Either of these are fine as long as it’s released before May 30th.
While that one doesn’t exactly pose a threat, a second petition threatens a boycott if things don’t change. The demands are pretty hilarious, going as far as to demand that showrunner Scott M. Gimple’s contract be dissolved (seriously).
Preface: this petition is not about changing what’s already happened, so much as it’s about addressing massive shortcomings as of late so that these mistakes will not be repeated going forward. At the end of season 6, the showrunners of “The Walking Dead” did their most loyal fans a great disservice by ruining the greatest and most iconic moment of the entire series with a gimmicky “cliffhanger” ending. There are a couple reasons that they may have done this, but it is most likely that they are simply trying to boost ratings of the premiere episode of season 7, or that they have grown too lazy and complicit to actually feed us a complete, well thought out story. At any rate, this is the third time they’ve used a cliffhanger in one season to try and make up for their own lack of creativity, and the most loyal fans of the show have had enough. Signing this petition means you will pledge to not watch the season 7 premiere of the show unless the showrunners correct their mistake by 1. providing us, the fans, with a concrete ending to the episode online, preferably with footage, and 2. vowing to NEVER force a cliffhanger ending again in a way that will kill the momentum of the show and ruin the viewer’s experience for the sake of ratings. We would also like to see Scott M. Gimple’s contract dissolved. Enough is enough, the fans care a great deal for this show and refuse to allow the showrunners to continue to run it into the ground. No more cheap gimmicks, AMC.
Even though I gave up on “The Walking Dead” after three season, I consider the series to be a gift to us horror fans. It’s acted as a skeleton key that has opened the door to horror invading television – shit, we’re getting a “Preacher” series this summer!
I think some viewers underestimate how hard it is for shows to survive on television, and for “The Walking Dead” to have even made it to a sixth and soon-to-be-filmed seventh season should be celebrated. It’s exciting that there’s something to look forward to. And, I for one, am grateful that the horror Gods have blessed us with such phenomenal content. We need to respect the art of storytelling. Life may be a choose-your-own-adventure, but (most of) entertainment isn’t. Yes, immediacy allows us to click a button and buy a song or movie quicker than even typing its name out, but as a society we need to learn some restraint. Shit, now is as good as a time as any to start planning your Season 7 premiere party…
I think there’s an interesting debate here. What do you guys think? Were you happy with the finale or did it rub you the wrong way?
