SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you have already watched Sundays season 9 finale ofThe Walking Dead.
How did the show stage these epic snowstorms?
We asked showrunner Angela Kang how they pulled it off.
Gene Page/AMC
And thats not all we asked her.
What about that mystery voice on the radio at the end of the episode?
Why did they choose to say goodbye to the Kingdom?
Gene Page/AMC
What are we to make of Carol breaking up with Ezekiel and what the future holds for those two?
And whats Alpha having Beta whip her arm all about?
We inquired on all those topics.
Gene Page/AMC
Plus: Kang also shares a tribute to comic-book Carols death that some fans may have missed.
Read on for all the intel as the showrunner answers our season finale burning questions.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You finally did it and brought winter to the show.
And the bang out of snow that Georgia gets, it tends to be very light.
You see breath in the air.
Its just not easy.
Theyre working onNOSA4A2for AMC.
I think they might have doneBand of Brothers.
They work onStar Warsstuff.
So they are experts in making non-snowy environments and sets look like theyre snowed over.
And they use a variety of techniques.
So every time you see snow in the episode, it might be a different kind of material.
They use a particular key in of material to have the really soft snowfall.
They use something else for when youve got the blizzard conditions.
Theyre using a mix of things to have the stuff that people are walking through.
The ice is with paraffin wax, which is amazing.
So when theyre crossing the frozen river, all of thats covered with wax.
So the actors are bundled up and theyre like, Were hot, were hot.
And Im like, this is literally the only time this has ever happened.
Its all part of pieces of the same set.
We faked Alexandria on a stage that was nowhere near Alexandria.
So its just a testament to everybodys really amazing hard work.
And the VFX team obviously came in and put the icicle in and all of that.
And then of course, Cassady who plays Lydia, and Melissa, theyre so wonderful and emotional.
The Kingdom is no more, fallen into disrepair and rot.
I also really love having scenes with our characters together and having them be on adventures together.
Who cares if thats your hunting land or your way to travel to each other?
This is all mine.
I thought it created these really interesting obstacles for the final episode.
Hes certainly not a saint.No, hes not a saint.
Were playing this arc for Negan because so much time has passed.
How can he be exactly the same person that he was at the end of All-Out War?
Hes trying to become a part of this community now.
So what does that mean?
But Negan is Negan.
The fun of Negan is that he has elements of him that are a little unpredictable.
Hes a little raw, hes a little inappropriate, he definitely has an edge.
For me, Negan always will have an edge.
He knows how to put on a show.
Hes a showman, right?
This is a person who has a really dangerous streak and kind of an ahole streak.
He can also be really darkly funny.
Thats the core of who he is, and hes never really gonna lose that.
Thats what makes him Negan.
You have to understand who they are as people.
There are definitely people who are more indiscriminately brutal.
All of that is part of who he is.
In a lot of ways, when Sophia died, that catapulted her into another chapter of her life.
She had to question this abusive relationship she had, her feelings of inadequacy, her feelings of weakness.
And she eventually became the badass, you cant mess with me Carol that we know and love.
But that all came at a cost.
Having to kill and kill and kill and kill, it really took a toll on her.
So she got to live out the fairytale chapter of her life.
The grief can be overwhelming.
It can reveal cracks in a relationship that maybe were there all along, or can create new cracks.
It was the place.
It was all the people.
Glenn is a notable exception.
We definitely have a story that Im really excited about telling for Ezekiel in season 10.
Ive talked to Khary about it.
Hopefully good character stuff can come out of it all.
They gear up and go to war.
But the Whisperers dont exactly have a home address.
You cant go knock on their door with a bunch of machine guns.
Thats not their deal.
They probably migrate South for the winter like birds.
But then what does that mean and how are they going about unseen when theyve got this giant herd?
Thats actually something that plays into the story going forward.
What does that mean for us going forward?
Because we just saw somebody who cut off the heads of ten people.
And it would fail.
There will be an interesting turn that goes with that.
Alright, you brought up the radio voice.
You knew I was going to ask you about that.
Its the last shot.
We hear someone on that Hilltop radio breaking in and out?
But its definitely something that Im sure people will speculate about.
We welcome that speculation.
What do they want?
How will they interact?
Whatever it is, it is something that will turn the story in hopefully a satisfying and interesting way.
So how do you want to answer that one, Angela?
[Laughs]I think Im gonna answer that one and say people are free to speculate.
You all are going start filming season 10 in about a month.
Im working on the premiere, and were gonna, I dont know… Im crazy.
I was like, Lets just do snow which is actually impossible to do.
Thats part of the fun of the show.
Its always fun to have more than one thing going on at once.
Well find out how this radio voice, what they have to do with our people and their world.
Were having fun working on the pieces of this season, so hopefully it will go well.
Im knocking on a lot of wood.
Also check outWalking DeaddirectorGreg Nicotero revealing hidden Easter eggs and homagesin the finale.
And for moreTWDscoop, follow Dalton on Twitter@DaltonRoss.
