There's nothing worse than seeing a show spoiler.
So understandably, The Walking Dead's Jeffrey Dean Morgan and director Greg Nicotero feel bad the franchise inadvertently confirmed that key characters would survive the final season when announcing several spin-off series.
For months now, fans have known that Morgan's character, Negan, will star in the new series Dead City, previously titled Isle of the Dead, alongside Lauren Cohan's Maggie. Additionally, Daryl (Norman Reedus) is getting his own show set in France, and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne's (Danai Gurira) love story will continue in yet another series.
This announcement may have made the upcoming series finale much less exciting for some fans, and it's a fact that's not lost on Morgan, who told Entertainment Weekly Sept. 9, "That's not the way we should have gone about it."
"But this is how it was chosen to play out," he continued. "And who knows? Maybe we couldn't have kept the secret. But it seems to me we could have given it a shot. I would've tried to go about it in a different way, but look, that's above my pay grade."
Nicotero, an executive producer and director for the finale, admitted that he had no role in the announcement, saying, "We were a little surprised."
But The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang defended the announcement and gave credit to the team for crafting an exciting finale, hinting that the characters will be put through the wringer in the final episodes. "Even if you [know] this person's going to survive, do you know exactly what choice they're going to make?" she explained to the outlet. "What psychic scars that's going to leave? Are they going to be horribly injured? Are people they care about going to face an awful fate?"
And while Morgan said he was upset that they spoiled Negan and Maggie's fate, he's optimistic that fans will still be surprised by how The Walking Dead ends. "There are still some tricks up our sleeves," he said. "As an audience, don't think that you know how this is going to be, because I guarantee you don't."
The final season of The Walking Dead continues Oct. 2 on AMC.