Karl Makinen Describes Filming His The Walking Dead Death Scene

One of the hardest hitting death’s of The Walking Dead season 7 happened when Morgan killed Richard, and actor Karl Makinen couldn’t have picked a better sendoff.

Granted, as he tells ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis, he would have loved to stick around longer, but ultimately he loved how his character exited the series. Makinen revealed how the original sequence was supposed to play out.

“Well, you know, they edited, we shot a lot more of the closeups and me and him having to struggle. The actual death scene was supposed to be even longer length than it was, even though it kind of lasted longer. He was like choking me out for like, we would go like a minute of filming, which is a long time for somebody choking you, and it was supposed to have all sorts of levels of like choking, screeching, um losing my breath, my eyes going back, the last breath. It was like this crazy long drawn out kind of thing.”

As for why the prolonged scene, it all came down to Morgan.

“Because I think that they wanted to do that to really show the transition of Morgan. Ya know, that’s a big moment for him because he switches back to killing mode, which I’m excited about in season 8.”

Fans can catch up with Karl Makinen this weekend at Walker Stalker Con in Nashville, TN, while the season 8 trailer of The Walking Dead will premiere at San Diego Comic-Con this July.

The Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes) Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), Danai Gurira (Michonne), Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Alanna Masterson (Tara Chambler), Josh McDermitt (Dr. Eugene Porter), Christian Serratos (Rosita Espinosa), Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel Stokes), Ross Marquand (Aaron), Lennie James (Morgon Jones), Austin Amelio (Dwight), Tom Payne (Paul ‘Jesus’ Rovia), Katelyn Nacon (Enid), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan), and Steven Ogg (Simon), and Karl Makinen (Richard).

Fear the Walking Dead returns for its third season on June 4 at 9 pm ET on AMC. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season in October of 2017. The first trailer is expected to arrive at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

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