‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7 Updates: Norman Reedus Promises “Explosive” Return; Creator Defends Massive Season 6 Cliffhanger

‘The Walking Dead’ actor Norman Reedus promised that season 7 will be an “explosive” one that will finally address the cliffhanger from season 6’s finale. Meanwhile, TWD creator and writer Robert Kirkman defended the decision to leave audiences hanging.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reedus admitted that he was already asked a “zillion times” about Negan’s brutal barbwire-covered bat attack victim in last season’s intense cliffhanger. He remained mum about the matter saying that he didn’t like telling or being told spoilers.

Reedus was aware of fans’ continuing outrage online saying it’s always good to keep people talking. He said, “The fact that people are still talking is a huge compliment to how that episode was executed and the acting in it and the writing of it…. I get it. I like that too. I like the controversy, to be honest. For that many people to be that invested in that show and freaking out, I think it’s great.”

However, he promised that TWD season 7 will make up for its predecessor and will be worth the wait. He said, “Trust me. I think probably the planet is going to explode. That’s my feeling. It’s so good. Every time we go on a promotional tour talking about what’s going to come, we all say ‘Oh my God, it’s amazing. I can’t wait for you to see it.’ But it continually surprises me how this show grows and is put together and the execution of it – no pun intended. It blows my mind. It just continually reaches a new plateau every single time, and this is the highest plateau we’ve ever been. So just wait. It’s worth the wait, trust me.”

Reedus plays Daryl Dixon, one of the longest-surviving characters on AMC’s widely popular post-apocalyptic horror series. Daryl was first introduced into the 'The Walking Dead' series as an ill-tempered expert tracker known for his fearlessness in killing walkers. He eventually becomes Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) right-hand man in leading the group of survivors.

The season 6 finale, entitled “Last Day on Earth”, featured Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan. Morgan’s character is a leader of a large group of survivors from Washington D.C. known as the Saviors, who extort people for resources in exchange of protection.

In the season-ender, Negan’s group captures Rick’s and manages to disarm them and force them on the ground. Negan then appears and threatens retribution by deciding to bludgeon one of Rick’s people to death with a bat wrapped in barbed wire, which he calls “Lucille”. After landing his random target, the screen fades to black with only an audio of someone beaten in the background.

According to another article on Gamespot, writer and creator Robert Kirkman defended his controversial TWD season finale saying, "I'm not sorry that we did it. I don't regret that we did it, because [executive producer 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. 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."

‘The Walking Dead’ is a horror-drama television series based on the comic book of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. It tells the story of a group of survivors struggling to survive in a world overrun by zombies and other ferocious humans.

Season 7’s official release date has not been confirmed as of the moment but the show is speculated to return in late 2016.