SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you have already watched Sundays Stradivarius episode ofThe Walking Dead.
So many questions!!!
That was what mostWalking Deadfans were likely thinking at the conclusion of Sundays Stradivarius episode.
Gene Page/AMC
(Read through both pages for the entire interview.)
Its this thing thats kind of been batted around for a long time, and it never happened.
So we were talking about, how can we show the state that Daryls in?
Gene Page/AMC
And I thought that it would be great that hes been off for a while after Ricks presumed death.
Daryl just went off.
It shows that theres still a desire for him to have a connection somehow.
Gene Page/AMC
And so the dog is his faithful companion.
In my mind, theres also a story behind where that dog came from.
And so thats how we ended up with a dog.
And the two dogs that play the dog are great.
So its a lot of fun seeing Norman work with the pup finally.
And Im like, Oh my God.
This dog is going to die!
I dont know if I have the heart to kill the dog, man.
Look, you could kill whatever person you want.
Dont touch the dog!
But sticking with Daryl, it seems he has had some difficulty with closure after losing Rick.
Whats going on here with him searching for his buddy and then just kind of staying off by himself?
Hes always going around saying, Im better by myself.
I think that in our minds in the story, he probably spent some time trading between the communities.
He kept somewhat in contact.
Obviously, Carol knows where hes at.
But the contact became less and less and less over time.
Because whats he going to go back to?
He doesnt really want to be the bureaucratic leader of a community.
He lost his brother, and in some ways he lost his way when that happened.
So thats kind of the starting point for him.
He was the recruiter.
He likes to scavenge.
He likes to find new things and new places and new people.
And so hes in a place where hes struggling with that.
So hes sort of in this odd place.
Even early on, Maggie was kind of like, Why dont you lead this place instead of Gregory?
Hes just like, Thats not me.
And thats really the character that weve seen all along.
And so we wanted to kind of play that out.
How excited was Tom Payne for the man bun?I think he was pretty excited.
And I have to say he rocked it pretty well.
It looks good on him.
Speaking of Jesus, you put him and Aaron together on these secret meetings theyre having.
Comic book fans know they become a couple there.
Are you starting to set that up here?I cant speak to the future of that.
They were the respective recruiters for their communities.
And so it seemed like theres a natural friendship to be had there.
We were starting off, Alexandria and Hilltop having kind of a freeze between them.
They havent had much contact.
Theres clearly just some beef thats happened there.
But there is a friendship there.
They like each other.
(Interview continues on next page.)
You mentioned the beef.
And I want to ask you a little more about that, because…what is this beef?
Meaning, is this a Michonne and Maggie beef?
Or is it something bigger than these two characters?
Is it something between the communities?
But its bigger than that.
Its bigger than just two people having some sort of a thing.
How is it that Alexandria became so isolationist compared to the other communities.
Its just part of the story of the season, and also starting from that point.
Its definitely part of the season.
I dont want to give away anything more than that.
Well talk about it as it goes along.
Not in this half of the season, but it will come in the episodes to follow.
So starting in 9B, in the second half of the season.
You had Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) back on the set directing this episode.
This is the first time youve had an actor from the show come and direct the show.
What was it like getting him involved and having him back there doing this?It was great.
We all love him so much the cast, the crew, everybody on the creative team.
Hes such a wonderful human being and so responsible and so professional.
Everybody will use the word professional to describe him.
He takes everything so seriously.
And yet he has such a great sense of fun and energy about it all.
So he really has been very serious about the idea of directing.
He shadowed on our show.
He shadowed onFear the Walking Dead.
He shadowed on some other shows, with people that he knows.
He really dove into it.
And when he came in, he was prepared, man.
He worked hard, and he just had such a great rapport with everybody on set.
I think he just absolutely killed it.
So it was really fun.
And this was the season.
So it was a delight for all of us.
Truly, it was really, really great.
We see Daryl, Jesus, and Aaron heading out to look for Eugene at the end.
When I watched the first cut, it kind of had me on the edge of my seat.
The performances are on point.
Mike Satrazemis, who is our frequent director, did an amazing job with it.
I really think the action and adventure and the suspense is really fun.
We do some great environmental things to give it atmosphere to make everything really scary.
And there are some answers to questions that the audience may have about certain things.
