The Walking Dead's Greg Nicotero Explains How Negan's Victim Was Selected

When The Walking Dead's 100th issue hit shelves back in 2012, fans quivered at the idea of the Negan's infamous introduction being adapted to television.

Those comic book fans (and most fans of the show by now) know that when Negan arrived, it was the end of the line for Glenn Rhee. For years, we were left wondering if the moment would be adapted to television and still, we are agonizingly waiting for an answer to the question of, "Who did Negan kill?"

While he wasn't willing to spill the beans on who became a home run swing in the final moments of The Walking Dead's sixth season, the show's executive producer and VFX guru Greg Nicotero was willing to share some insight into how the victim was selected and what the process of picking up where the finale left off was like.

"The biggest challenge is you know it's coming," Nicotero explains during a press conference at San Diego Comic Con. "Ever since issue 100, I was talking to Steven [Yeun] today, we were at breakfast four years ago today when that issue was out. We were reading it and just thinking how brutal and unexpected and senseless it felt. So, we're going into that moment where we know it's going to happen."

Nicotero feels a need to keep the audience engaged and surprised, so adapting the comic to television exactly as it went on the pages wouldn't necessarily do that.

"I think that is the trickiest aspect of the first episode is living up to, number one, the expectation of that moment and then, what's even more interesting for me as a director of the episode, is how that changes the direction of the survivors forever," Nicotero says. "When we shot the episode, that to me was as critical as the actual moment which is the five minutes after, the ten minutes after, the twenty minutes after, when the smoke clears in the battlefield sort of scenario. It's a fascinating exercise in emotion because shock and denial and all these things play into it. It was a master class in acting from these people right here to watch on a daily basis. Every time you get the outlines or the scripts or Scott and the writers pitch, you never want to hear that it's coming. I think with the this particular episode, everybody knows it's coming so it's agonizing to think about the fact that we're changing the landscape of our characters."

The landscape will definitely be changed for everybody when The Walking Dead returns this fall. Negan and the Saviors are in control now.

The Walking Dead returns October 23 at 9 PM ET on AMC.