In case you weren't aware, the cast was pretty shaken up about the finale, and they weren't afraid to talk about Negan's arrival. What it boils down to is this: Negan's arrival scene is epic, to be sure. It's filled with impending dread. It's tense. But it's not that emotionally scarring. Based on the below quotes, it really seems like the script revealed his victim.
- Norman Reedus said, "I knew what was happening, and what was going to happen, and who was involved, but I got to tell you, I couldn't speak for like an hour." Not only is he implying he knows who dies — sure, his quote is admittedly up to interpretation because he could be referring to the scene as a whole — but it takes a lot to render someone speechless.
- It gets worse. In another quote, Andrew Lincoln noted, "I felt sick to my stomach when I read the script. It was the first day in the whole six years of working on The Walking Dead. . . . I was so angry and frustrated and I felt sick." If you read details about Negan beating one of your costars to death, you'd probably feel sick too. But the rest of the scene? It's a stretch.
- Perhaps the most telling quote is Lauren Cohan's. Lauren said, "[Hearing] the word 'finale' gives me a physical reaction because it's the hardest day on set that I've ever had in my life. . . . Andy talks about being late to work; I didn't want to go to work that day. It took a really, really long time for everybody to feel OK again after the finale." This, after being lined up and hearing a round of "Eeny Meeny Miny Moe."
OK, OK, we're not just using these flimsy quotes as sole evidence. As executive producer Gregory Nicotero said after the finale, the cast doesn't know who Negan killed. In fact, according to him, "We had wrapped all of the actors. . . . We didn't have anybody there." It's puzzling, all these visceral, gut-wrenching reactions, and they haven't even filmed the worst part. This has us thinking one thing: the cast did read — and possibly witness — the full Negan kill scene. That would explain their horrified reactions.
In fact, to cover his tracks, Nicotero dropped another quote that directly contradicts all the above blurbs. He said, "While we were shooting this episode, I'd never seen the cast more energized and more excited about the future of the show." Wait, is this the same shoot which Andrew Lincoln was late to for the first time ever? The same shoot Lauren Cohan didn't want to go to at all? What a strange thing to say.
