During the final TWD panel, Chris Hardwick moderated each of the panelists who participated in the event for the last time. Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, Greg Nicotero, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Ross Marquand, Seth Gilliam, Lauren Ridloff, Cailey Fleming, and Michael James Shaw participated in the discussion.
In general, there was an overall feeling of gratitude amongst the members of the cast, especially those who were fans. Throughout its history, the show has been made possible by the fans. There is no doubt in Reedus’ mind that the show belongs not only to the cast and crew, but also to the fans of the show. During the SDCC panel, many reminiscences were shared about previous SDCC panels. This includes the time when Andrew Lincoln tried to play a prank on Reedus by blowing glitter into his face in order to make him laugh. As a result, Lincoln’s beard ended up covered in glitter as the prank backfired.
It has been stated by Kang in the upcoming finale that our people, the Team Family, are engaged in a heavy conflict with the Commonwealth during the third part of the finale. This series of eight episodes is about bringing the gang back together with the goal of finishing this series with their goal in mind. Be prepared for some surprises along the way.
Director Nicotero certainly felt the weight of the fans’ expectations during the finale. He knew that it was his responsibility to do everything in his power to make the show as good as it could be for the fans.
This was Shaw’s first time participating in a panel in person. The first day he had on set was really cold, according to him. On the other hand, on his last day, hey wrapped up around six in the morning and just watched the sun come up. Moreover, he said that the walkers were some of the most delicious people to work with on the set.
The original panel schedule included Christian Serratos and Khary Peyton, but they were unable to attend. Payton announced on his social media that he has COVID so he could not make it.
A few questions were asked by Hall H fans. There were a lot of people who cried during the wrap party, according to Gimple. An episode-by-episode video with one second of each episode was put together by the post production team and shown at the wrap party. Kang explains that they are hoping to show that to the fandom at some point, but they don’t want to spoil any surprises by showing it now.
Rick’s movies were the subject of Hardwick’s question. He couldn’t get an answer from Gimple, of course. However, two people backstage were able to help. In that moment, Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira emerged from the crowd. Richonne’s story had to be wrapped up because they felt they owed it to the fans to do so. It was decided by Lincoln and Gurira, after meeting with Gimple, that a six episode series would be the most effective way to tell this story. A date was set for Lincoln and Gurira to return to SDCC in 2023, and they are looking forward to it.
The first season of Tales of the Walking Dead is more like an anthology series than a regular TV show, with each episode telling a standalone story set within the Walking Dead universe, as opposed to the previous TWD shows. Tales of the Walking Dead features a number of new characters, including several played by Parker Posey, Jillian Bell, and Anthony Edwards, but some familiar faces are also returning, including Samantha Morton as Alpha, who is set to play a major role in the series.
In addition to Morton, Terry Crews and Danny Ramirez were all on hand during Friday’s SDCC panel to discuss the series. Scott M. Gimple, the showrunner of Tales of the Walking Dead Charnning Powell, and the executive producer of Tales of the Walking Dead Michael Satrazemis were all on stage with the actors.
Over to the press conferences that took place after the panel, not too much new information was shared other than Greg Nicotero talking about the finale.
“It’s definitely a challenge. Other shows if you’re talking about…you know, Game of Thrones had five seasons. Breaking Bad had six seasons. 11 seasons! Our story continued to evolve. The story really did change. The exciting thing for me after season one is, okay, finally everybody else catches up to me and realizes how cool zombies are. I grew up in the George Romero world where Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, that was sort of like my gossip. Frank Darabont used to say to me that the show was always about survival. He had always wanted to do a zombie apocalypse story. We talked about something years before The Walking Dead comic book even came out, so it was sort of like a match made in heaven when Frank put the ensemble cast together with Sarah, Jon, Steven, Melissa, and Norman. You know, the show certainly has evolved since then,” said Nicotero.
