'The Walking Dead' Showrunner Reveals What Got Cut From Season 8 Finale

The Walking Dead season 8 finale was forced to cut quieter moments featuring Negan and a "lovely" scene between Rick, Michonne, and Maggie, showrunner Scott Gimple told EW.

"There were a few things. There was some really cool stuff with Negan at the Sanctuary sort of addressing the troops and seeing some of his own conflicts about what they're facing," Gimple said.

"There was a lovely exchange between Rick, Michonne, and Maggie that was about the future. There was some great stuff [we had to cut] but I would say not only for time but also for flow. I'd like to show some of those scenes on, like, a DVD, but for the flow of the story, it just benefited from [cutting] it."

The Walking Dead's season closer had a lot to tackle: there was a need to wrap up more than two season's worth of conflict with the Saviors, the need to resolve multiple plot threads from season 8 and earlier, have Rick find his personal redemption, and set the stage for season 9 and beyond.

"And also, by the way, for Fear the Walking Dead, we had to trim some stuff there that I loved," Gimple added.

"It's just the nature of telling stories. It can be really heartbreaking sometimes but I think the flow of stories is important and it's a worthy challenge in commercial television to have to deal with that. Keeping a tight experience for the audience is also good."

The Walking Dead is no stranger to premiering extended cuts on the series' home media releases: the season 4 Blu-ray included extended versions of episodes not shown on television (4x09, 4x14), as did the season 6 Blu-ray, which included an extended and uncut version of 6x16 — which saw Negan make his F-word-fueled debut.

The DVDs and Blu-rays also come stocked with several minutes of deleted scenes, meaning it will only be a few more months until fans can experience the chopped scenes above plus other season 8 scenes left on the cutting room floor.

The Walking Dead season 8 will be available to own on Blu-ray and DVD sometime later this year preceding the debut of season 9 on AMC.