SAN DIEGO — The Walking Dead's cast and producers answered a few questions at the AMC drama's Comic-Con panel Friday, but not the big one: Who did Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) kill at the end of Season 6?
Fans will have to wait until Oct. 23, (10 ET/PT) the newly announced season premiere date, to learn the identity of Negan’s victim. The candidates: Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Glenn (Steven Yeun) and other members of the survivor family.
Morgan opened the session walking behind seated cast members, menacingly wielding Lucille, his barbed-wire-covered bat.
Greg Nicotero, who directed the season opener, said the episode was especially intense. “It affected me in a way I didn’t expect. Rick was reduced to no control,” he said.
A trailer revealed The Kingdom, a group from executive producer Robert Kirkman’s comic books, along with King Ezekiel and his tiger.
Executive producer Scott M. Gimple added that Dead also will follow what happens to the characters not under Negan’s power, including Morgan, Carol, Tara and Heath.
Executive producer Gale Ann Hurd promised a growing Dead universe.
“We’re going to find more people we haven’t met living in the apocalypse. We’re meeting both friend and foe,” she said.
Fear the Walking Dead, down Mexico Way
Speaking of that expanding universe, Comic-Con attendees also heard from the Fear the Walking Dead gang.
When the spinoff returns for the second half of Season 2 on Aug. 21 (9 ET/PT), we'll find the crew south of the border in Mexico.
Its new trailer showed the central survivors, back on solid ground, split up and dealing with a growing number of zombies as they struggle to survive in the dystopic drama.
“They’re separated and learning to survive on their own,” executive producer Dave Erickson told a full house during the Fear panel in Comic-Con’s largest venue. In the second half, “there’s a level of intensity and violence you haven’t seen before.”
Executive producer Robert Kirkman, co-creator of The Walking Dead comic books, said he’s happy that the Fear world, set earlier in time than the original, gets to explore a different time frame of the same zombie apocalypse.
“We’re still in the Walking Dead universe, but it’s so different,” he said.
Nicotero, who oversees zombies and effects on both shows, says Fear offers potential storylines that weren't available to the team while doing the first series.
“We have the ocean, we have a plane crash. We’re on the brink of the world turning. There are a lot of opportunities,” he said.
One humorous moment: Lorenzo James Henrie said he learned a lot about bullying through his character, Chris. When a buzz emanated from the audience, Talking Dead host and moderator Chris Hardwick quickly explained that Henrie was talking about bullying, not bowling.
Thanks for clearing that up!
