In Season 8 of “The Walking Dead,” Rick Grimes’ group rolled up to the Saviors’ headquarters and unloaded an endless barrage of bullets. But the only thing they managed to put holes in was the plot.
Back in 2017, the “Walking Dead” Season 8 premiere brought us one of the most inexplicable moments in the show. Despite the fact that Negan (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is completely exposed to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group outside the Sanctuary, he manages to escape unscathed. The same can’t be said for the windows (R.I.P.). Then-showrunner Scott Gimple attempted to explain why no one shot Negan, but fans didn’t buy it.
Watching it back, you’d think even Stormtroopers would have better aim. Now, it seems some people working on the show had a feeling it’d be a problem.
In a new interview with Collider’s “The Witching Hour” posted Monday, “Walking Dead” director and producer Greg Nicotero said he had advocated for Negan to get hit.
“I kept saying, ‘Can Negan get shot in the leg? Can he get shot in the arm?’ I mean, you have a hundred people there and none of them actually shot anybody,” Nicotero said.
He explained that even Morgan wanted his character to be hit in the shoulder or leg, and Lincoln also asked if he could “just shoot him.”
“When we were shooting that episode, I went, ‘I know I’m gonna hear about it. I’m gonna hear about that they had an army of, like, a hundred people outside the Sanctuary — not one of them actually hit anybody.’ And we did,” he said.
Earlier in the chat, Nicotero also said he had wanted Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to kill Negan, rather than have Rick spare the villain’s life in the Season 8 finale. But he ultimately recognized that Negan’s character still had some development left to go.
Despite the things he would have changed, the clip ends with the director praising the show and showrunner Angela Kang, saying the last two seasons have become “adrenalized.”
You can watch the segment below. If you’re a fan, it’s interesting to hear how different the Negan moments could’ve been. If you’re Jeffrey Dean Morgan, it should be pee pee pants city.