Is Daryl Dead? First Clip From The Walking Dead Season 7 Teases his Fate
The Walking Dead has had its share of controversy during it's six massively successful seasons. There's been the unusually high showrunner turnover, including creator Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara. And that's just some of the behind-the-scenes stuff. In fact, perhaps no scene has drawn more scrutiny than last season's finale shot, which ended on a brutal cliffhanger—who, exactly, did the sociopath Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) kill with his spiked bat?
That final sequence created such a vociferous reaction from fans that The Walking Dead comics creator and writer/executive producer on the show Robert Kirkman felt he had to address it.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman said, “We knew that there would be a reaction. We probably didn’t anticipate it would be so big, but cliffhangers are supposed to elicit a reaction. I mean, that’s what they’re designed to do. So, to a certain extent, it did its job. It maybe did its job a little too well, but I think people that have invested in six years of the show may not be happy about that cliffhanger, and I think that’s a completely valid response, and I completely respect their opinion.”
The world of The Walking Dead the show has veered off in several crucial places from the comic series, but when it comes to this Negan scene, fans had expected it might follow the gruesome path laid bare in the pages. By not showing us if Negan killed who he did in the comics (we won't spoil it for you in case you're unaware), many fans felt like it just poured salt on their wounds; six months to wait to find out if a beloved character is gone.
“I don’t regret that we did it, because [showrunner Scott M. Gimple] and I were trying to tell a story, and that’s what we and the entire creative team decided to do, but it is what it is,” Kirkman told EW. “We’re working that much harder to come back for season 7 and make sure that the payoff is worth the dread of the uncertainty that we’ve given you over the months that we’re on break.”
Well, now AMC has released a new clip from the long awaited seventh season, and it once again cruelly teases with the fate of possibly the most beloved character on the show, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). This is made plain and clear because we see Daryl's angel wing vest being worn by one of Negan’s henchmen.
The Walking Dead season 7 will premiere Sunday, October 23 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, not a moment too soon. Season 7 will consist of 16 episodes that will air in two parts, with the first eight episodes kicking off October 23 and the final eight returning February 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOh2YcMkBQ4
