The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang and star Norman Reedus reveal the first details behind the six new Season 10 episodes coming in the aftermath of the Whisperer War, which came to an end in last Sunday’s original season finale. These smaller-scale episodes, designed to be filmed safely amid the pandemic, will tell character-driven stories with what Reedus calls an “introspective exhale sort of a feel” in the wake of the epic conclusion to the survivors’ war against Alpha (Samantha Morton) and Beta (Ryan Hurst). In addition to more from Daryl (Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), viewers can anticipate a reunion between Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the just-returned Maggie (Lauren Cohan).
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“I will say, they are really like deep dives into characters. It’s been really fun to kind of work on them creatively, although really a challenge, but a challenge I think that has been invigorating for people,” Kang told Deadline, adding the cast “seemed to really respond to the scripts, and we’ve had a good time writing them.”
“They don’t have the typical scope and scale of what would be like a gigantic like finale with like hundreds of extras by the time you get to the end, but I think we get to tell a really, really cool story that I think the fans will really love,” Kang said. “We’ll get to see dynamics between Maggie and Negan, we’ll see a lot of story related to Daryl and Carol, and where people have been in the past, which, I think, should be satisfying for fans who have wondered about X, Y, Z moments.”
One such moment could explain a surprise return from “A Certain Doom,” where Connie (Lauren Ridloff) resurfaced alive after spending the second half of the season missing. All roads lead to the Commonwealth, the sprawling community behind the white-armored soldiers revealed in the season finale; this group is the driving force behind the eleventh and final season premiering in late 2021.
“The plan is to keep driving forward into Season 11, like while everything is pumping for these six right now,” Kang added. “The writers room is hard at work planning the final big arc that will lead to the series end.”
In this batch of new episodes, “We really get into the heads of the characters more than a giant situation where you’d have thousands of zombies on top of you and people screaming and running,” Reedus said.
“It’s more character-driven, because of COVID, it’s kind of changed the dynamic a little bit. Also, I think after such an epic battle at the end of this season I think you need some breathing room,” Reedus added. “I think people need to exhale and take a look around them, and I think that’s what’s happening now. I’m sure it’ll ramp back up again but right now it’s kind of an introspective exhale sort of a feel, which is nice. It’s a nice tone.”
The Walking Dead returns with six new episodes in early 2021 on AMC. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
