The Walking Dead’s Ann Mahoney Takes Us Inside Olivia’s Big Scenes

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The Walking Dead‘s Midseason 7 finale was packed with a couple of surprising deaths. While Spencer’s was largely predicted by comic book fans, the reaper also came for Fat Joey and Olivia in final hours of the AMC series in 2016.

Fat Joey’s death was one which some fans were made happy by. Finally, one of the Saviors close to Negan was taken down.

However, Olivia’s death shocked fans. Just when we thought the foot would be taken off of the gas for a moment after Negan gutted the last remaining member of the Monroe family, his vengeance was not done. The villain directed one of his henchman to kill somebody and she picked Olivia, quickly pointing her gun at the woman in charge of rations and pulling the trigger.

Olivia fell back. She’s dead.

ComicBook.com had the opportunity to talk with Olivia actress Ann Mahoney — who is still very much alive — about her experience on The Walking Dead and those fateful days on set.

Immediate Reaction

What has the night been like for you? How have the fans been reacting to Olivia’s death?

Tonight’s been wild. I knew it was coming but my phone is definitely blowing up and the Twitter feed won’t refresh because there’s so many comments.

There’s a part of me that worried that people would not care that I was gone so I’m really pleasantly surprised that everyone was so upset. It’s sad, too, because I love her and I’ve been working on this character for a long time and she’s dear to me. Saying goodbye is hard.

Last Day on Earth

Can you walk us through that day on set and how you found out Olivia would be getting killed?

Scott Gimple called me. It was a Sunday morning. I was in bed with my husband and my two kids were running around. My phone rang and I looked and it said, “Scott Gimple.” I looked at my husband and said, “I’m dead.” I knew immediately that I was probably going to be dead.

He called me one time earlier this season when they wrote the first, “Fat lady” line to apologize and tell me that none of them really think of me like that but to tell me that Negan is a jerk and he says jerk things so I thought that was lovely. The second time, I thought, “This has gotta be it.”

That last day on set, the day that I got shot, it was a long day. We shot that pool scene from several different angles.

On that day, several of the cast members walked up to me and said, “I can’t believe it. I actually gasped when I read this. I did not see this coming.”

They’re lovely people to work with. Andy Lincoln came over to me with tears in his eyes and said he was gonna miss me, so, they’re lovely people. 

Message To Rosita

If Olivia could say something to Rosita after her actions got her killed, what would she say?

Rosita! I think she’s a bad-ass. She just gets tougher every episode. Her determination. Her selflessness. Her willingness to sacrifice herself for the greater good and the community, I think shows she is really growing as a person. I would say, “You go girl, Rosita! Take him out! Pick up where I left off.”

Favorite Memory

What was your favorite memory from your time with The Walking Dead?

A favorite memory of working on the show is tough because there’s a lot. When I first started working on the show, I remember, whe nyou go into the lunch room it’s very much like high school all over again. Everybody is sitting with the popular crowd and everybody is kind of cliqued out.

Steve Yeun, who plays Glenn, said, “What are you doing? Come sit here with us!” I said, “You know, you guys are like the main cast! I’m sure you have reserved seats and that sort of thing.”

He said, “What are you talking about? You are the main cast!” That was an amazing first day.

I love working with Jeffrey Dean Morgan. We had great chemistry from the jump. When we’re working together I’m terrified of him and he does a really good job of terrifying me and when we’re not on camera we crack each other up.

Andy Lincoln, he’s a lieutenant, captain, seargent. He just leads that group with such grace and strength and he is an awesome force to have when you’re working with him.

The Slap

Before dying, Olivia claimed one of the best moments of the season — slapping Negan. What’s it like to be the one who smacked the bad guy across the face?

The first time Scott Gimple called me this season was to tell me about the line about “the fat lady.”

I said, “Well you can make that up to me by making sure that I get to do the famous slap from the comic book.”

He said, “I don’t know if we’ll have time for that but we’ll see what we can do.”

So, when I read that episode I was pretty nervous that I got to do that iconic moment from the comic book. I slapped him for every asshole boyfriend I ever had and through college and every man that ever thought he could walk all over me. J.D. Morgan was like, “Just slap me!”

So, I did it, I slapped the s— out of him!

The take they used in the show was one of the takes where I did slap him, where I really did haul off and smack him. What you see is him reacting to me and hitting him really hard across the face!