How 'The Walking Dead' cast reacted when they first read the series finale script
"The Walking Dead" concluded its 11-season run with a huge finale event in Los Angeles.
Insider asked some of the cast their reactions to watching the finale and reading the final script.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan didn't want to read the end. Christian Serratos said the cast cried.
"The Walking Dead" cast, crew, and fans bid farewell to AMC's apocalyptic phenomenon Sunday night in Los Angeles, California.
As cast, past and present, reunited on the red carpet for the first time in months, Insider asked their thoughts on the finale, and their reaction to reading the finale script.
Some of the stars had a chance to view it before Sunday's live finale event, while others decided to wait to watch it with a live audience to close out the series' 11-season and 177-episode run.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan didn't even want to finish reading the script because he knew the show would be over.
When we caught up with Morgan, who has played Negan in the series since the season six finale, he hadn't watched the final eight episodes of "The Walking Dead."
"I need to see it by myself without distractions," Morgan, who has also been filming a "TWD" spinoff with Lauren Cohan, said. "I don't wanna watch with my kids or my wife. I know it's gonna be emotional. I know it's gonna be hard, and I'm in denial that I'm not gonna see all those people again. So I need a minute. This has been fucking hard just talking about the fact that it's ending."
"I don't know that I read the whole script because it's the end and I didn't want to get to that last page," Morgan said when we asked his reaction to reading the final episode. "I remember going over it really fast."
"I always talk to Norman about every script we read, and then we kind of check in and give notes and the last one was really hard for us to even talk about," Morgan added of costar Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl.
By the finale's end, Negan apologizes to Maggie for killing her husband in the show's controversial season seven premiere. He asks for her forgiveness. In an emotionally wrought scene, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) explains why she can't even though she knows he's trying to be better.
Of Negan's journey, Morgan told Insider, "Being in the lineup himself and being able to have those parallels between what Maggie went through and him thinking his wife was gonna die, I think it opened people's eyes a lot. It's tricky. A lot of the progress, you wonder, 'Is he playing bullshit games?' And I never thought he was."
He continued: "Still, it's a long road and I think what we've all learned is everybody kind of loses their shit in the apocalypse and has done some horrible things. Negan was no different. He killed two of our heroes, which immediately puts us on a bad path with everyone. But then he realizes that he needs these people. And I think it turns out that maybe they need him, too. And that's been an interesting journey to play."
Eleanor Matsuura, who plays Yumiko, thinks they stuck the landing.
"I think it was a rollercoaster," Matsuura said of watching the finale in advance of Sunday's screening.
"I didn't know what to think going into it," Matsuura said. "It took so many twists and turns, but I really believe that we stuck the landing. It was very emotional at the end."
Matsuura continued: "It has room for suspense and surprise, and it's still a great episode all into itself while also doing the job of tying things up. I'm proud of it and I hope people like it.
Matsuura's character, Yumiko, survived "The Walking Dead," making amends by the episode's conclusion with her girlfriend, Magna (Nadia Hilker).
Asked what being part of "TWD" has meant to her, Matsuura said: "It changed my entire life. I moved from England. I just had my first kid. My whole family came with me. We picked up shop and put it down in Atlanta, Georgia. I look back on the time that I've spent on the show and I can't believe the life it's given me, the experience it's given me, the friends I've made, what I've learned. It's truly changed my life. I don't know if another job I'll ever have will compare to this experience."
Cooper Andrews waited to watch the finale as a fan with the fans. He was nervous when he first read the script.
"The only thing I hated about getting cast on the show is that I had to — I would watch every week to keep up and everything. But I loved just bingeing it all," Andrews said. "This time, the opportunity to be surprised and watch it as a fan and everything is gonna be — that's the best part."
"I know what I did," Andrews said of his role in the finale. "I just wanna watch it on the big screen, seeing it with everybody and, you know, ugly cry in front of as many people as possible."
When he first went to read the finale script, Cooper said he was nervous.
"I want this to be good," Andrews recalled thinking, before being relieved. "But then it was a lot of tears because I'm like, 'Oh, this is good and this is very sad.' And if I'm crying in the script, I know I'm gonna be wrecked in there in a little bit and I forgot my sunglasses. That's the most embarrassing part of it all."
Cailey Fleming said it was bittersweet to read the finale script.
"It was definitely bittersweet reading the last episode," Fleming, who has played Rick's daughter, Judith, since season nine said. "Obviously very emotional, but we can't just be sad. We're also celebrating what we've accomplished."
Fleming was one of the few to screen the episode in advance, telling us she watched most of it agape.
"I will definitely have the same reaction as I did the first time tonight because it's so awesome," Fleming said, adding that she cried when initially watching it.
Christian Serratos said the entire cast cried when they first read the script.
Serratos, who has played Rosita since season four, said the cast cried reading the script for the first time.
"We had all been in communication about the last episode, so we kind of all knew where the story was going, what we were going to be reading and it was beautiful," Serratos said. "We all cried. I cried reading it."
Serratos added: "I think it went through a bunch of different versions before we actually filmed. I was really excited to do it. It's bittersweet. You can't wait to play all the moments, but then you don't want it to end."
When we spoke with Serratos, she had screened the finale in advance and told us she was happy with the show's end.
"I was so proud of us. I thought it was so amazing and I'm really excited for the fans to see it," Serratos said."It was a very stressful episode to film because we had, in the back of our heads, that we were eventually gonna say goodbye to each other and not be in this kind of bubble, this little home that we created. It was fighting tears every day."
In the finale, Rosita winds up getting bit by a walker while saving her daughter. Serratos confirmed to Insider with a nod of the head that she volunteered for her character to be killed off in the finale.
Of her character's arc, Serratos said season four Rosita would be proud of her character's journey and the choices she made. "Yeah, Rosita's always been a very independent, resilient individual and she maintained that. She was a very powerful woman. Rosita would've been very proud of older Rosita."
Lauren Ridloff was shocked after reading the finale script.
Ridloff has played fan-favorite Connie on "TWD" since season nine.
When we asked her reaction to reading the final script, she said, "I will say, shock, because when I read the script — we didn't go by the script."
Ridloff continued: "I felt like the final episode truly went by instinct, the instincts of the director, Greg Nicotero, and situations that happened while we were shooting. We had to adapt to make changes to the script. So, by the time we actually wrapped, I had no idea what was happening. None. I was talking with some of the other actors and other friends, like, 'Do you know what happened?' Nobody really knew until I actually watched the finale and I got my answers there."
Connie ends the series happily with her sister Kelly by her side. She's still a journalist at the Commonwealth.
Ridloff said she believes the version of Connie we meet on season nine would be "absolutely" proud of where she winds up in the finale.
"I think when we first meet Connie she is in survival mode," Ridloff said. "We don't really see who she is or was before the apocalypse. But I think over time as we actually go through things that Connie has experienced and suffered and survived, we see a lot more of her from herself. And by the finale, we really fully see who Connie is."
Paola Lázaro cried reading the finale script.
Lázaro, who joined the series on season 10 as Juanita "Princess" Sanchez, waited until the finale event to watch the episode with the fans.
"They sent it to me in preparation for 'Talking Dead,' but I remember enough from when we shot it where I can answer the questions and everything," Lázaro said. "I wanted to experience it with everybody."
Thinking about reading the finale script gave the actor chills.
"I was like, 'Oh lord,' and then I started crying," Lázaro said. "And I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe such a big part of so many people's lives is coming to an end.' Such a big part of my life, even though I started on it two, almost three, years ago. I auditioned for it in 2019. It's been a part of me and it has completely changed my life and it enriched my life in so many beautiful ways. So when I read it was bittersweet."
Princess survives "TWD," living in the Commonwealth with her boyfriend, Mike Mercer, one of the new leaders of the community.
Seth Gilliam had a one-word reaction after reading the script.
"Wow," Gilliam said of his reaction to reading the script. "The last 10 to 15 pages: 'Wow. That's cool.'"
Gilliam, who played Father Gabriel, hadn't watched the finale ahead of its premiere.
When asked whether or not fans would be happy with where his character winds up in the finale, he said, "I hope they will."
After getting killed off in the comics, Gabriel survives "The Walking Dead," living out his days as a priest and parent.
When we first met Father Gabriel in season five, he horrifically locked his congregation out of his church during the early days of the apocalypse. As he cowardly hid inside, he could hear people being torn apart. His story arc comes full circle in the finale, with Gabe deciding to save innocent lives at the Commonwealth from receiving a similar fate even if it meant risking his life to do so.
Margot Bingham said it was emotional reading the script.
"It was emotional, but we were still filming at the time, so I was just really trying to make sure that I was prepared as far as my work goes and character and do the best that I could on the day," Bingham said.
Bingham joined the series on season 10 as a mysterious voice on a radio from the Commonwealth community who Eugene set out to meet. The actor hadn't watched the finale before Sunday night.
Her character, Max, winds up living out a happily ever after with Eugene at the show's end.
They've named a daughter, Rosie, after Rosita. Khary Payton later confirmed to Insider his son, Eli, played Rosie.
Bingham revealed on a live taping of "Talking Dead," which Insider attended, that she wore one of her mother's maternity dresses at the show's end.
Lennie James, who originally appeared in the flagship series before heading to spinoff "Fear the Walking Dead," told us he watched the finale before the fan event.
When we asked James his reaction to "TWD" finale he joked, "You know, eh," before saying, "It's a fantastic and fitting end to the story, so far."
In 2021, James told us he had a conversation about possibly returning in the finale, but said he couldn't say anything else. However, Morgan appears only in a nostalgic montage at the series' end without reuniting with the main cast.
Read the original article on Insider