Danai Gurira agrees with fans on ‘Walking Dead’ season 6 finale as ‘valid’ outrage, filming was ‘horrifying’

Danai Gurira talked about The Walking Dead season 6 finale, cliffhanger and the shoot during  a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. The actress agreed with fans outrage that the identity of Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) victim was not revealed at the end of the episode, understanding that the response to the cliffhanger is “valid.”

“The arc of the story as a whole is a huge story, and … people are going to respond in various ways to various things, so I think everyone’s response is valid,” she said.

Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Gurira, 38, talked about the introduction of Negan.

“It was horrifying because you know something imminent is about to happen and you’re completely out of control,” Gurira said. “And for these characters like Rick [Andrew Lincoln] and Michonne, to not be in control is just the most painful thing.”

At one point during the interview, Gurira shared that filming the final scene of the season was intense.

“It was a two-day shoot. It was freezing cold,” she said. “We were on our knees in the gravel and it was intense. And we’re facing its horror, it really was horror.”

Although Gurira finds Morgan a “great” and “wonderful” man, she admitted that she and her co-stars were “not looking forward to their experience with him on set.”

At recent screening of the season 6 finale, showrunner Scott M. Gimple said that they didn’t end the season with the cliffhanger to deliberately mess with the fans.

“We never intend to f–k with people,” Gimple said (via Variety). “You all just saw the episode and I want to go on record and say we were not trying to f–k with you.”

The Walking Dead season 7 premieres in October on AMC.

Danai Gurira as Michonne; Michael Cudlitz as Sgt Abraham Ford; Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene; Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes; Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha; Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes; Josh McDermitt as Dr Eugene Porter – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 16 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC