The Walking Dead Actress Knew Her Character’s Death Was Coming

Warning! Spoilers for the fourteen episode of The Walking Dead‘s sixth season (Twice As Far) follow!

Last night’s episode started out a little slower than most in the back half of season six but it ultimately hit the gas for a full throttle, heartbreaking finish. Characters and fans were forced to say an abrupt farewell to Merritt Weaver’s Denise Cloyd character.

An arrow viciously pierced through Denise’s head and out of her right eye and took her from us before she could even finish her sentence.

While the moment was an absolute shocker for audiences, Weaver knew all along it was never far off.

“I knew that she was only going to be here for over the course of one season,” Weaver says. “I assumed it was going to be death, because that’s how people tend to get out of The Walking Dead: not in one piece. I always knew that was coming up, and then I think [executive producer] Scott [Gimple] called me and told me how a week or two before I got the script.”

A heads up on when you’ll die is always nice. Weaver joined the season earlier this season and played a major part in saving a couple of character’s, including Carl. “We started shooting in May of last year, so it was a while ago,” Weaver says. “I finished shooting in October. But the show kept going.”

The death was a big variation from how Denise went out in the comics. Originally, it belonged to Abraham, but Michael Cudlitz says The Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman never liked the way Abe went out on the pages. Ultimately, his death would be given to Denise, who was bit by a zombie much further down the line in the graphic novels.

“It was interesting,” Weaver says. “I wondered how they were going to do it. It was fine — I knew it was coming. I think in the books she is bitten, so in the back of my mind, I was like, ‘I think that’s how it’s going to happen.’ And then, no.”

The Walking Dead has two episodes remaining in its sixth season, airing Sundays at 9 PM ET on AMC.

via Us Weekly