Back in the 1980s, Dallas' giant summer-altering cliffhanger was summed up perfectly by " Who Shot J.R.?" The Walking Dead wasn't so lucky as to get a catchy title like that, as "Whom Did Negan Clobber With A Bat?" doesn't roll off the tongue, but it's still a major topic of conversation among information-hungry fans. In an effort to keep said fans and other various spoiler hounds from the victim's identity, the show's cast and crew have reportedly filmed a big death scene for all 11 actors in Negan's lineup. WTF?
Not only did they apparently film nearly a dozen bloody massacres, but THR's sources are claiming the victim's choosing is yet to be made by the show's producers, who'd be working with the director and editors. I would have assumed that decision had been made already a billion times over, but I guess not, if this information is to be believed.
We know that showrunner Scott Gimple and his squad moved the action into the studio to film the big death, as to keep onlookers from getting their eyes (or drones) on the action. But did they really film 11 different full-effect comic-honoring death scenes in there?
"And you get a skull crushing! And you get a skull crushing!" You guys all know that "Oprah" spelled backwards is "Negan," right?
I could understand filming a handful of endings with favored characters like Abraham, Daryl, Michonne and Maggie (along with the "real" victim, if the name didn't already appear), but why would they film fake death scenes with Carl and Rick, characters that definitely aren't getting slaughtered? That would be a needless waste of resources, I'd think.
As well, I can also understand filming a few fake scenes outside with the real victim, as to fool onlookers into thinking the exiting actor is still busy working. But if Gimple & Co. are actually sitting on that decision until later, wouldn't they be filming a lot more eventually useless scenes? The show is supposedly filming scenes out of order in order to further confuse people, too.
Recently, actress Danai Gurira became the latest cast member who claimed to have knowledge of the cliffhanger's answer. You'll recall that Norman Reedus said that in the past, right around the time others were saying that no one knew, or that it hadn't even been figured out yet. At this point, your mailman's guess is probably as good as anyone else's concerning Negan's victim.
The world will find out at large when The Walking Dead returns to AMC in October for Season 7, but will it get leaked before then? (We know who won't be spoiling it.) And will it be a real leak or just one of these alleged fake death scenes?
