Kirkman Promises Walking Deads Controversial Finale Leads To An Awesome Payoff

Robert Kirkman assures viewers "we weren't trying to game the audience" with Negan's debut, and promises a surprise fans "won't see coming."

Weeks after "The Walking Dead's" Season 6 finale, the episode's controversial cliffhanger continues to be a source of discussion among the show's viewers. Executive Producer Greg Nicotero, series co-creator Robert Kirkman and more weighed in on the ending, assuring fans that they never intended the way they handled Negan's introduction to anger the audience.

RELATED: Gimple Says "Walking Dead's" Negan Finale Was "Not Trying to F--- With" Fans

Now, Kirkman has penned an open letter in the latest issue of his and Charlie Adlard's "Walking Dead" comic. In addition to once again swearing it was never the intent to "game the audience" by not revealing the identity of Negan's victim, Kirkman promises the finale "was setting something up that you probably won't see coming."

"Some people love it. Some people are indifferent. Some people HATE it," Kirkman wrote in the issue's Letter Hacks letter column. "We weren't trying to game the audience, we weren't trying to drive you crazy, we certainly weren't trying to FORCE you to come back for season 7... we hope you were planning on doing that and still plan on doing that.

"We did want you to talk. And talk you are."

You can read Kirkman's full statement below. "The Walking Dead" #154, by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, is on sale now.

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Stephen Gerding has been a part of CBR for over fifteen years, starting as a part-time freelancer in 2005 and working his way up to his current role as Senior News Editor. Over the years, he's been involved in the site's multiple Eisner Award wins, wile helping to define its voice and visual look. He's also seen the site go through multiple changes, including the launch of the Eisner Award-winning Robot 6 blog, expanding from covering comics to all aspects of pop culture, and the biggest evolution when it transformed from Comic Book Resources to CBR. Stephen has been reading comics for as long as he's been, well, reading. After nearly a decade of stealing copies of classic comics by Kirby, Lee, Swan, Fox, Romita and more from his father's collection, his love of comics fully kicked in when he bought Avengers #232 from a spinner rack at Seven-Eleven. Eventually, when the opportunity arose to actually write about comics, it was a no-brainer. That he's still able to do so years later is a dream come true.