The Walking Dead producer Greg Nicotero describes extreme measures taken to protect the cliffhanger secret.
The producers of AMC’s The Walking Dead have spent months defending the show’s controversial Season 6 cliffhanger closer from the cavalcade of criticisms by an incensed Internet fandom. However, that hasn’t stopped enterprising individuals from attempting to discern the big Season 7 secret, either with Zapruder Film-like examinations of the cliffhanger moment or exercising more temerity by flying drones over the shooting of scenes. Consequently, equally extreme measures have been implemented to protect said secret.
In an interview with EW, one of those measures was discussed by The Walking Dead executive producer Greg Nicotero. The April 3 Season 6 finale “Last Day on Earth” culminated with the humiliating and frightening moment when 11 of the show’s primary characters were lined up on their knees waiting for Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s debuting antagonist Negan. Shot from the victim’s point-of-view, we saw Negan brutally execute someone with his barbed-wire baseball bat “Lucille,” leaving viewers with a maddening mystery; one that was dutifully protected when production began on Season 7. According to Nicotero of the cliffhanger resolution:
“Well, we’ve gone to pretty significant lengths. That scene was shot on the backlot, because we didn’t want it to be shot out in public where people can climb trees, or for telephoto lenses, to capture something. It’s unfortunate, because those people, their job is to ruin the show, and our job is to preserve the experience of the show. So we do have to spend a lot of energy and a lot of effort preserving the experience of watching the show. It’s just the way the world is right now, and it’s an unfortunate thing.”
Nicotero’s fears are legitimate. Due to its incredible popularity, The Walking Dead has inspired an Internet spoiler subculture that is arguably on an unprecedented level. The show’s outdoor Georgia production has been the perpetual focus of long-lens-brandishing photographers leaking numerous secrets. Also, as mentioned, the production has been susceptible to drone photography, as well; something that warrants the limiting of spoiler variables on a backlot. AMC even took a proactive measure back in June, reaching out to notorious spoiler site The Spoiling Dead Fans with the threat of a lawsuit, should they continue to post specific plot details.
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However, barring some leaked outdoor photos that possibly confirm the survival of a few (notably unlikely) Lucille candidates, the cliffhanger secret still seems tightly-kept, for the most part. In fact, back in June, it was reported that the revelatory execution in question was actually shot with all 11 of the candidates as the victim, stemming insider leaks. While the task of protecting the identity of the Lucille victim is clearly a collective effort, Nicotero implies that his secret-protecting plans are motivated by his own personal proclivity for being surprised by the shows that he loves. As Nicotero explains:
“There are a lot of TV shows that I love watching. I choose not to go online and read anything about them because I still enjoy the experience of learning about it for the first time. I don’t need spoilers. I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan, as you know, and every episode took me on this amazing great journey that I relished. I loved not knowing where I was being led but willingly going there. And people that want to put spoilers out there, they’re purposely trying to ruin that experience for people.”
Of course, unlike The Walking Dead, whose show-inspiring comic book series is still kicking, Game of Thrones fans don’t exactly have the luxury of spoiler-dropping source material that it once enjoyed with the existing novels' events now mostly covered. However, Nicotero’s point is well-made and his defense of the cliffhanger in which he states, “I don’t think we would have changed anything,” could, in the very least, optimistically indicate a satisfying resolution to a most vexing of television events.
The Walking Dead returns on AMC on October 23, revealing the bittersweet answer to what is undoubtedly television’s hottest secret.
