-We are so back to be back live in studio
For the season 11 premiere of "the walking dead."
The final season started tonight,
And what a shocking premiere it was.
So tonight we saw eugene and the others experience
The commonwealth's intake systems for newcomers,
Where there are asked some really personal questions.
We also learned that alexandria is in very rough shape,
And their supplies are extremely low.
So maggie led a mission to her old community
Despite the looming threat of the reapers,
But on the way, tensions grew even more intense
Between negan and maggie,
Resulting in negan leaving maggie
To fend for herself in the middle of a walker attack.
So what's gonna happen to her?
How will the others react if they learn what he did?
And even though yumiko might've found her brother,
Will princess in the group regret
Not leaving the commonwealth when they had the chance?
On tonight's show, we have interviews from the set,
A behind-the-scenes look at the really eerie metro station
And, of course, an exclusive sneak peek
Of next week's episode.
My guests are executive producer and showrunner angela kang,
Paola lázaro, whom you know as princess,
The one and only jeffrey dean morgan,
A.K.A. Negan, will be here, and I am chris hardwick,
And this is "talking dead live"!
[cheers and applause]
♪♪
Hello.
The conversation about the show is just beginning.
We want to hear from you.
Tweet us or hit us up on instagram @amctalkingdead
Or go to "talking dead's" facebook page.
You can go to twdu.Com/deadlive
To vote on our polls and make your voice heard.
Right now, please say hello to my guests,
Angela kang, paola lázaro, and jeffrey dean morgan,
Who is via satellite in atlanta.
And, real quick, not that this show is about me,
But, uh, the news came out today.
I'm very excited to announce, uh, my wife is pregnant,
And we are having our first child.
I'm, like, so over the moon about it,
So I'm very excited. I just wanted to say that.
It's so -- it feels so nice to be able to talk about it.
It's a very bright spot during a very surreal time.
So, um -- but let's now talk about the show.
Uh, paola, um, let's talk about the commonwealth.
What can you tease about the commonwealth this season?
-Uh, the first thing I got to say is that it's creepy.
It's so creepy because we're so used to seeing people
Filled with dirt and zombie blood,
And these people look clean and civilized,
And we're not used to seeing civilized people on this show.
And what I have to say, for real, is
The calm before the storm.
Everything seems to be running so smoothly with them
That you know
That it's gonna go crazy. -Right.
-Our characters are so used to trauma and -- and hardships
And, finally, they meet these people.
It's kind of when -- like when rick went to alexandria...
-Mm-hmm. -...And everything seemed to be
Running so smoothly, looked like a such a nice community,
And then it just all went to...
So, yeah, that's what I got to say about that.
-And I have to say, I didn't -- before the show, you were like,
"oh, we haven't met in person." I'm like, "yeah, we have.
Have you been on the --" -no.
-"oh, no, it's all been virtual."
This is your first time on the "talking dead" set.
It's so nice to see you in person.
-Thank you. -So nice to meet you in person.
[applause] -happy to be here.
-It's really great to have you here.
-Thank you. -Angela, what can you tell us
About what looked like a giant walker slumber party
At the military base? What is that?
Are there pillow fights? What's happening?
-Yeah. So, you know, people who are comic-book readers know
That there are two very important variants
That kind of run through the entire book series,
And those are roamers and lurkers,
And, basically, the show mostly deals with roamers,
And those are your -- your average zombie
That's constantly walking around, looking for food.
Um, we have, at certain times, shown
What are the lurker variety,
And those are walkers that, when there's not enough stimulation
Or they haven't had food in a long time,
They just kind of go dormant sometimes --
Not all of them, just some of them.
But we -- we thought that it was sort of an arena
That we haven't really explored as much in a big, old sequence,
So we thought that'd be kind of a fun way
To do something new to start the season.
-Fantastic. I-I see there he is, uh, clutching
What looks like an adorably tiny bat.
That is really adorable. -It's your first baby present.
-Oh, that's so nice. Oh, thank you.
Oh, I'm so -- -congratulations.
-I'm -- I'm delighted and horrified at the same time.
What was -- what was your reaction when you learned
That negan was just gonna watch
Maggie fall into a bunch of walkers?
-Well, ask angela. Uh, I called her immediately and was like,
We -- we can't -- we can't do that.
[laughter]
And I was pretty adamant about it.
I had talked to lauren and had I talked to norm,
And then I called angela, and I was like,
"this is just -- it's a horrible idea.
Any good that we have done is immediately gone."
That being said, I watched the episode,
And I'm really glad we did it.
Um, it makes a lot of sense now in retrospect.
-It -- it really does. -Yeah.
-Yeah, I mean, 'cause I-I really thought he was gonna be like,
"okay," you know, he's redeeming himself,
And it was like, "oh, no, he's not.'
And as a matter of fact... -Yeah, yeah.
-...One of our questions from twitter from --
-Well, I mean, like -- like, real quick,
I mean, he is convinced at that point --
We're jumping right to the end of the episode,
But he's convinced that she's gonna kill him.
-Right. -You know? So...
Well, I guess we'll have to wait
For the beginning of this next episode,
That's this exciting two-part deal that we're doing,
But, uh, you know, y-you're gonna find out
How that goes over, and probably not great.
[laughter] -I mean -- I mean [chuckles]
You kind of answered the question.
Jack dixon carol on twitter says, "we saw negan change in
'here's negan' when he says goodbye to the old negan,
So how come he didn't save maggie?"
And your assertion is that,
Well, he thought she was going to kill him.
-Yeah, yeah, he is convinced that he is a dead man
And that they're all kind of in on it.
Um, yeah, he's -- he's sure of it.
A-a-and -- and I was sure of that,
Reading the script, as well,
But I still was like, "ooh, it's a lot,"
But I like that we did it,
And angela was -- was right in -- in having us do that.
-I mean, still -- I still -- that moment was shocking,
But negan invoking glenn's name, to me, was like,
"oh, you did not just, you know, like --"
-Angela? -That -- that was -- that was --
-That was -- that was that was phone call number two.
I'm like, "really?"
[laughter]
-This guy, he's been doing such a good job.
He's grown so many tomatoes. He's trying to redeem himself.
-It was the first episode back.
To have those two moments um, uh...
You know, look, I've always been a-a believer
That negan will always be negan.
There's always gonna be an edge to negan,
And no matter what good he does, he will have that edge.
And, you know, at that point, when he calls maggie out,
I think that he's seen this go too far,
And he believes that maggie is kind of, you know,
Exactly what he says, leading everyone to their death.
And so he pushes buttons,
And I think that that was a hell of a button to push.
And -- and it gave norman, you know,
A much-wanted punch to my face, and so everybody was happy.
[laughter]
It was a win/win.
-This, uh -- this is from instagram, from falsa gringa.
"paola, as a spectator, what do you think about negan
Not helping maggie on the train?"
-Okay, I think -- I think maggie needs a little bit of a scare.
I think she's going off the rails a little bit.
-[clapping] -and I think -- I --
Listen, no, no, don't clap too much.
I don't think you should've left her there.
Like -- but I think you should've, like,
Ducked to the side for a couple of seconds
And let her believe that you weren't gonna help her...
-Played peekaboo? [chuckles] -...And then help her,
But you -- but she needs a scare,
And they need to sit down and talk about it.
I don't know if there is redemption for negan,
But she needed the scare. That's all --
And I love that -- I love maggie's character.
She needed the scare. -The sit-down talk might be
Tough at this point. -I-I know, but --
-"should we talk about th-- okay, well, later on,
We'll talk about it." -maybe they should've
Talked about it in the moment. That might -- you know?
-That -- that might have been good, but we're gonna --
We're gonna find out more about maggie's fate
In just a minute. We have to take a quick break.
Coming up, interviews with the cast from the set,
A behind-the-scenes look at the incredibly detailed design
That went into recreating the d.C. Metro,
Plus an exclusive sneak peek
Of next week's episode of "the walking dead."
But, first, before someone asks you how many bowel movements
You have in a day and what you use to wipe,
Let's slow things down. -Ooh.
-I know. I know. -Ouf.
-I know. I know. It was, uh --
Everyone kind of thought about it, you know?
Two times and a pine cone, or whatever.
I don't know they say, 'cause it's the apocalypse.
Let's slow things down and say a final farewell
To all those we've lost tonight.
♪♪
-[growling]
[grunts]
♪♪
[walkers growling]
♪♪
-Well, it's a brilliant idea from princess,
Who has been observing all the movements of the troopers
And comes out with this whole kind of day-to-day,
Minute-by-minute detailed plan of what they've all been doing,
And it dawns upon us that,
"oh, wait, we have a window of opportunity here,
Which we can take these guys' clothes
And use them and dress up and escape."
And I think it's a big risk that we're all willing to take.
The hilarious thing is we very swiftly,
Eugene and yumiko, manage to get into these costumes,
Which, by the way, are not easy things to get into.
They are the most uncomfortable costumes in the world.
And I remember there was one take as we were walking out,
My goggles kept getting steamed up.
So I just fully walked into a wall.
[chuckles] I was just like, "guys?"
And they had to kind of cut and reshuffle.
I think it's the only time I've seen josh laugh.
He's a hard guy to make laugh on set.
It's the only time I've seen him fully laugh -- at me.
[cheers and applause]
-And welcome back to "talking dead."
That was eleanor matsuura
With a little behind-the-scenes intel
On, uh, what the commonwealth suits are like to wear.
We're back with angela and paola and jeffrey dean morgan.
Mixed reactions from the internet on negan
In this episode.
Michele bory on twitter says,
"that last scene of 'the walking dead,'
I literally gasped and said, 'negan, don't you do it.'
This last season is gonna be so good."
Chad chart x on twitter says,
"I want to push negan off that train."
However, the other side -- derby season's twitter --
"look, I love maggie, but I'm on team negan here."
And then steve knorr on twitter, "probably an unpopular opinion.
Negan is right. Maggie is a liability."
Damn. Um, does -- jeffrey, does -- does negan
Feel like he deserves better treatment from the group
Because he took out the alpha threat?
-I think -- I think negan's been really patient.
I think he starts this episode off, uh,
Getting a little picked on by maggie's people and --
And all of a sudden, you know,
Daryl's like, "we ain't buddies,"
And, you know, everywhere he turns,
It's someone giving him lip.
And he's kind of quiet about it all until --
And he's givi-- you know, they want his advice.
The minute he gives advice,
They get mad at him for getting -- giving advice.
So he's getting a lot of mixed signals at this point.
The thing is -- with negan is that he's right.
[laughter] he's right in this situation.
Maggie is making bad calls,
Everybody is kind of following her blindly for whatever reason,
And the only one that is kind of willing
To stand up and raise their hand
And say, "hey, this is a really bad idea," is negan.
No one's listening to him. Um...
And, obviously, he's aware of the fact
That he's, you know, a dead man walking.
So there's a lot of things going against
Negan at this point, where we find him in this episode.
Um...
The audience reaction,
I'm pretty used to that.
It's always been a good 50/50 split
If you're hating him or you love him.
Um, we'll see how it ends.
-Well, just sort of shifting gears a little bit
And talking about the interrogation scene,
How -- how much fun was it coming up with
All the interroga-- interrogation questions,
And did you shoot a ton that you didn't use?
Was it just like, "let's add as many ridiculous
Sort of bureaucratic questions as we can come up with?"
-We -- I mean, because we're always in such a rush to film,
Um, we had written, like, probably
Triple the number of questions
And then kind of cut it down, me and my co-writer, jim barnes.
Um, and then we did kind of, like, let the director know
If any of the actors want to kind of, like,
Improv some answers and do stuff,
Like, they're free to do so.
But it was just -- you know, we were trying to do things
That seemed very straitlaced, but then got, you know,
Progressively more weird and trippy and, um, invasive.
And so that was just kind of fun to -- to see
How everybody performed it at the end of the day.
-I was trying to figure out during those questions,
Like, do the -- some of the questions feel like they have
An actual purpose, then other ones -- is it, like --
Is this just sort of, like, weird bureaucracy to -- to --
To throw them off their game a little bit
And just kind of show them, like,
"we are in control of this situation,
So we're gonna ask you all these weird questions."
Can you talk -- is there any...
-Yes, a little bit,
But they also have their own secret reasons
For asking particular questions. You know what I mean?
-Okay, okay. -Yeah. It's like, every quest--
-"I just like to know how many times people poop.
That's all. What's the big -- what's the big deal?"
-Tells you a lot about people's health.
-It tells you a lot about people.
-Yeah, exactly. -That's true.
-Um, what was it like shooting those scenes for you?
-I mean, it was awesome.
Kevin dowling, our director, um, did it in such a way
Where he would swap us in and out,
In and out. -Yeah.
-So first would be the boys, like, eugene and ezekiel,
And then it would be yumiko and princess.
And I think the way it was shot, like, with his brain
Of swapping us in and out, made it so --
That's why it feels so rapid-fire
And, like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And it was just such a great -- we had special sides
That were designed for that swap.
So it felt like a tag team, like being in team sports again.
It was -- it was amazing. He's great.
-And what -- what do you think princess would have asked
If she was the interrogator?
-"do you throw parties here?"
[laughter]
"and most importantly, can I be the deejay?"
-Yeah, exactly.
Well, we want to find out what everyone thought at home tonight
When we asked twdu.Com/deadlive,
"should ezekiel tell the commonwealth about his cancer?"
Yes, they're shady, but maybe they could help
Or, no, reprocessing might be
The least of his worries if he does.
While the results are calculating,
How worried, angela, should we be about ezekiel at this point?
-I mean, I think that what we've shown is that
Ezekiel is -- is really struggling,
And, um, you know, he's not gotten any treatment,
And so that's something of -- of concern, I think,
For all the characters.
You know, it's like, is there a way forward for him?
-It's pretty split.
52% said yes. 48% said no.
So it's pretty -- it was pretty split down the middle.
Um, this is from @tylerbarton13 on twitter.
"jeff, if negan went with eugene's group
To the commonwealth and was honest in his interview,
Do you think the commonwealth would see him as a threat
Or just someone trying to survive in the apocalypse?"
-Oy vey. Uh... -[laughs]
-I mean, those questions were so ridiculous,
I don't know if he would ever be able
To answer them straightforward.
Um...
I-I think they would probably see him as a threat.
-Yeah, I don't see him answering those questions seriously
Without getting snarky. -I-I don't see --
I don't see him being real -- uh, yeah,
He would be snarky, absolutely,
But I-I don't -- I think that everybody in our show
That was getting interrogated played it really smart.
I don't think negan would,
And they would see that as a threat.
Um, like, I love --
I thought the work that paola did
And, uh, uh, uh, josh
And -- and the scene with, uh, uh, ezekiel
Khary and mike, uh, was, uh, brilliant.
I-I loved them.
But, uh, negan doesn't answer questions like that.
-Right. Well, uh, before we go to break,
I just want to show everyone this.
This is a hoodie featuring season 11 art.
This is only -- this is season 11 art.
We have it up there on the thing.
This isn't for any other season, you guys.
This is special season 11 art.
Get one for yourself at twdushop.Com.
And, of course,
Everyone in the studio audience is gonna go home with one.
I've been so waiting to say that for like a year-and-a-half.
So, when we return, we have more interviews from the set,
A behind-the-scenes look at the terrifying subway tunnels,
And an exclusive sneak peek of next week's episode.
We will be right back on "talking dead live."
[cheers and applause]
♪♪
-When ezekiel calls mercer a beat cop, he's hurt by that.
His loyalty to the commonwealth
And the values that they've created,
That's the most important thing in his life at the moment.
And for someone to come in and personally attack me
And attack the country that I am fighting for,
It's an insult.
-Why does he call him an ass (bleep) beat cop?
Because he acts like an ass (bleep) beat cop.
Maybe we haven't all met the ass (bleep) beat cop,
But I know that dude.
Everything changes the minute you start coughing up blood.
I don't care what happens. You know?
You could be sitting at a romantic dinner.
You start coughing up blood, (bleep) gonna change.
That's just the way of the world.
[cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "talking dead."
That was michael james shaw and khary payton
On ezekiel and mercer's interaction
In the season 11 premiere.
We're back with angela, paola, and jeffrey.
Um, paola, what's it been like
Working with michael james shaw,
Who, of course, plays mercer?
-Oh, we get along great. We hang out outside of work.
We're even working on a song together.
I didn't ask him if I could say that, but -- sorry, mike.
-That's alright, he dropped the "f" bomb last week,
So it's totally cool. -Oh, so we're totally cool.
No, we're working on a song together.
I taught him how to dance dominican bachata music.
Um, we just hang out all the time,
And we support each other on set.
We ask each other what each other needs for the scene,
And we just check in with each other
After every -- every cut, you know?
-That's fantastic.
That's really fantastic. -Yeah.
-I-I have some reactions to yumiko from this episode.
@shimmersshae on twitter says,
"princess finding that note for yumiko on the wall
Actually gave me chills. Yumiko saying, 'I have to stay,'
I felt that."
Bella cabrera on twitter says,
"yumiko's reaction broke my heart."
Uh, and then gale anne hurd, @gunnergale on twitter,
"I absolutely love eleanor matsuura as yumiko.
She's such a badass." so, angela,
What can you say about yumiko's relationship with her brother?
-Yeah, I mean, I think that yumiko and her brother, um,
Had a bit of a complicated relationship
Before the -- the, um, apocalypse,
But they love each other, you know?
They -- they miss each other.
I don't think either of them thought
They'd see each other again.
So, um, you know, it's like --
Those family bonds are so strong.
They grew up in, um, a-a family
That, um, just expected a lot from them,
And yumiko really thrived, and we'll learn about more --
How her brother did with that kind of situation.
-This is from, uh, @angie.Dayana19 on instagram.
Um, jeff, what would negan's reaction be
If rick had been the one to return instead of maggie?
-I think negan liked rick.
I think, um, uh, there was something
About that relationship that was, um, odd.
They respected each other a lot. I think he would've been
Much happier had rick returned than maggie.
-Interesting. -Yeah.
And then aaron mackey on instagram says,
"jeffrey and paola, how do you think
Negan and princess would get along?
For some reason, they remind me of each other."
I don't -- I'm not sure I understand the connection,
But -- but how do you think they'd get along, paola?
-Oh, I think they'd get along great.
They would love each other. I mean, that duo is unbeatable.
I think they would get along great,
And they'd become super good buddies.
They're both wild cards,
So, I mean, who knows what would happen with the apocalypse
If the two of them hung out?
Who knows? -Alright.
-I'm afraid, but I would go to that apocalypse.
I want to live in that apocalypse.
If they're running it, I'm there.
-So, uh, let's see. Jeffrey --
-I agree. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, buddy.
-This is for angela from @felicia6 on twitter.
This is a question we've actually been asked
Quite a lot from comic-book readers.
"can you tease if mercer and princess
Will have a relationship like in the comic?"
-I mean, you'll have to watch and see,
But, um, I think these two have some chemistry.
-[chuckles] -alright.
Alright. Um, let's see. This is for j-jeffrey.
Uh, @ifakerep on twitter --
"do you think negan and daryl
Have learned anything from each other
That helped each of them grow as characters?"
-I think they've both grown a lot in the last few years.
Have they learned anything from each other?
I don't know that they've spent enough quality time together
To, um, have learned a lot from each other,
Although I think negan has probably watched him a lot.
Um, it'll be interesting to see if they spend some more time
Together this year, if they get a chance to.
I think, again, how this has started off for negan,
He's not trusting daryl anymore, and I think, frankly,
The negan's a little bit bummed out how daryl's treating him.
So it'll be weird and odd and fun
To see where it goes from there, this relationship.
-Uh, this is for paola from @amandasediting on instagram.
"how much princess do you see in paola,
And how much paola do you see in princess?"
-I mean, I've always said that princess is paola
When she was 7 years old.
Princess is me as a 7-year-old.
Her energy and just how loving she is but also vulnerable.
So I think there's a lot --
I mean, as paola, I'm much more, like,
You know, like I am right now. [laughter]
But, uh -- but I can also be -- -you're pretty excitable.
-Like, yeah, yeah, and I can also be loud
And exciting and everything,
But I think it was more like me when I was a kid
With the hyperactivity and just, like, always talking
And always, like, da-da-da and moving around and making jokes.
So there's -- there's a lot, and they're --
They're pretty -- they're pretty connected.
-But it was -- it just -- you played her
So beautifully in this episode
Where she's just -- has this --
She's obviously very hyperaware
Of everything that's going on in her head,
But she's also incredibly hyperaware
Of everything in the world,
And that sort of just, like, rattling off this detailed list
Of everything that everyone is doing
Was just so beautifully played this episode.
-Thank you so much, chris. -We have to take a quick break,
But we have a behind-the-scenes look at the creepy
Subway tunnels coming up, and, of course,
The sneak peek of next week's episode.
But first, you can keep the conversation going
By following twduniverse on twitch.
They are live four days a week, so make sure to check that out.
We'll be right back on "talking dead live."
[cheers and applause]
♪♪
-The set design for this season is really kind of intense
In how specific it is and how detailed it is,
Because we're not just dealing with being in the woods.
We're in cities. We're subterranean.
The subway set was -- was fantastic, actually.
I-I think it took them a month or two to put together,
But they -- they had a couple of trains that were four
Or five cars long, two different tunnels,
Hundreds of walkers in body bags.
-The set that they built
For those subway tunnels was extraordinary.
I think that was -- that was probably the largest
And most impressive artificial set that I've ever been on.
-The subway-tunnel sets, those were huge.
It kind of had, like, a "planet of the apes" vibe
Slash, "warriors, come out to play-ay."
Those sets were really awesome to shoot in.
[cheers and applause]
-...Behind-the-scenes look at tonight's episode
With norman doing a great "warriors" reference there.
We're back with angela, paola, and jeffrey.
Um, jeff, how -- was it cool,
The tunnel sets, being down there?
-Yeah, yeah, it was awesome.
Um, I mean, we were there all day, every day for a long time,
Two episodes' worth of time there,
Uh, and so we didn't see daylight.
You never knew what time it was in real life,
But, uh, I-it -- the sets were amazing.
I've spent some time in some subway tunnels before,
And those were better than the real ones.
They did a great job, and I think that, uh --
They really did a lot with kind of --
There was a lot of --
There was a sense of horror, I think,
In this episode that I haven't felt in a while on this show.
I-it was -- it was a tense episode,
And I think that the set design in those tunnels in particular
Lent itself to, uh, kind of scaring the crap out of us.
Amazing job.
-Can you talk a little bit about -- about fighting
The huge, slimy walker?
-Yeah, it was really gross.
[laughter]
Yeah, I mean, you know, nicotero and his team
Are always trying to come up with the newest, latest,
And greatest, grossest thing that they can do,
One, for their own pleasure, and, two, to gross us out.
And this, it was scripted that it was a pus-filled walker.
Imagine my joy in reading that. [laughter]
Uh, and -- and it was pretty bad.
I mean, you know, I had the bat pressing
Against certain spots and... -Oy.
-...I don't -- I don't know what they put in there,
But have you ever seen that show "pimple popper"?
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.
-Alright, so that
Times, like, a million on me
-So pus -- they put pus. It was pus. Might've been pus.
-Yeah, look, whatever it was, it was very pus-like.
[laughter] -angela, what can you tease
About the bagged walkers in the tunnels?
-The bagged walkers in the tunnels,
I mean, it -- you know, anytime we're writing about our people
Kind of coming up on an environment,
We're just trying to, like, think
About, "what was the backstory of what happened here?"
And so, you know, there's just kind of, like, hints
That some really bad business happened,
Like, at some point in the apocalypse,
Um, and, um, I think some of our people, especially negan,
Is kind of right to be like, "I don't know about this.
This seems, like, really shady."
So, um, it's just -- it's meant to be creepy and eerie,
And -- and, hopefully, that -- that came across.
-Absolutely. -"especially negan."
[laughter]
-This is from, uh, baby girl kai x on instagram.
"paola, where does princess get her jacket?"
Where did she get her jacket? Do you know.
-Um, I think she got it --
She found it in, like, a 13-year-old's closet,
Like, a little girl,
Like, a little 13-year-old girl's closet.
And she saw it and she was like, "this is dope. This is amazing."
And also, she was smart about it, because she was like,
"it's so thick." like, I call it the sofa,
'cause it's like wearing a sofa.
I've said that so many times, but -- but it's true.
And she saw that it's so thick,
So it's hard for the walkers to bite through.
So, you know, she's -- she's smart. She got it.
-And also, I think it might have been cold
When you all were shooting down there, as well.
-I can't even remember. That was so long ago.
And, yes, it was. I just remembered.
-You just remembered, and, yes, it was freezing.
And, yeah, I guess in their world,
Like the entire world is a secondhand store, right?
Like, anything you can -- -absolutely.
It's a vintage store. Everywhere. Every house.
-Yeah, just all about upcycling, whatever you can find.
-Absolutely. -Absolutely.
Um, coming up, we have an exclusive sneak peek
Of next week's episode of "the walking dead."
But first, are you ready to go "inside the dead"?
Well, here's some inside info from tonight's episode
That you can't get anywhere else.
Please enjoy.
♪♪
-Hi. My name is dina marie, and I love "the walking dead"
Because it was something I grew up with.
It's because of "the walking dead"
That I met some of my best friends
From all around the world.
These are people I talk to every single day,
And I consider them my family,
My favorite character on "the walking dead" is negan,
Because who doesn't love a good, morally gray character?
My favorite scene with negan
Is when negan saved judith in a snowstorm,
Because it showed us a different side of negan.
Now, I know negan just left maggie
Hanging off that subway train, but let's be honest.
It's not exactly the worst thing we've ever seen negan do.
I cannot wait to see what negan has in store for us
For the rest of season 11.
[cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "talking dead."
Uh, that was this week's featured fan, dina marie,
Describing her all time favorite "walking dead" moment.
Now, for the rest of the final season,
We're gonna be featuring you,
The fans, sharing what "the walking dead" means to you.
So if you, the fans, want the chance to be featured on
An episode of "the talking dead" like dina marie,
Send us a 30-second video of you, the fans,
Explaining how "the walking dead" has impacted you
At fansubmission@talkingdead.Tv.
And now dina marie is gonna ask a question via video.
Let's roll it.
-My question is for jeffrey. If roles were reversed,
And it was negan that was hanging off
The side of that subway train,
Do you think that maggie would've saved him,
Or do you think she would have left him there?
-Well, I mean, come on, that is easy.
Um, she would've pushed him.
There wouldn't have been --
There wouldn't have been any hanging on.
She wants him dead.
This episode, at this time, maggie pushes negan off.
-I don't know if I agree with that,
Because I think she stated that she needs --
They need him to kind of get through these --
That was the whole thing where he was like,
"oh, I'm your map now?" I don't know.
-Yeah. -Andrea, what do --
What do you think? -Which, by the way,
Is -- is b.S.
You saying that no one knows how to read a map?
[laughter]
-What do you think, angela?
-Would maggie push him?
I-I don't know. -Yeah, exactly.
She's pretty -- she's pretty -- she's pretty mad at him.
[chuckling] so...
-So you think she would've just let him --
You think she -- you think she would have pulled a batman.
"I don't have to kill you,
But I don't have to save you, either," or something?
-Well, that's what negan does. -Yeah, that's true.
-I kind of think she would pull a similar move,
To be honest, you know,
Which is why I understand why negan leaves her behind.
-Yeah. Yeah.
Well, now it's time to see what everyone thought at home.
We asked you at twdu.Com/deadlive,
"what should the group do with negan?"
Should they let him stay? -Oh, god.
He knows the city. They need him for the mission --
My prediction is it's gonna be split almost down the middle --
Banish him after what he did to maggie -- good riddance --
Or punish him, lock him in a subway car,
And just put "easy street" on repeat
Just over and over again?
While the results are calculating,
So let's talk a little bit about maggie's fate.
Uh, what can you say, angela?
-Um, what I can say is that, you know,
Maggie drops into a-a whole lot of walker trouble,
But she's a very, uh, seasoned survivor.
Um, and so, um, you know, we'll find out, like, pretty quickly
How that all turns out.
-Ok, well, 70% said let him stay.
70%. 14% said banish him.
16% said punish him.
[applause]
-I love you guys. -Are you surprised, though?
Actually, one of the questions we have from the fans
And this kind of ties into this from twitter,
@negansmiz on twitter --
"jeffery, when you joined the show, did you expect
Negan to make it to the last season of 'the walking dead'?"
-No. [laughter]
No, no, not -- uh, no.
Um, that's about as honest as I can be.
Um...
I-I think there was a shift a couple years ago,
But I always expected that negan would leave.
I thought he would leave.
I didn't think he necessarily would die.
Um, I thought it would follow kind of the comic trajectory,
And nick would kind of meander off,
And that still may happen,
But the fact that I'm still alive
In the last season is pretty cool.
-It's pretty great. It's pretty great.
-Yeah, I'm stoked to be here.
-Um, paola, what did you think of princess -- that --
What we sort of talked about earlier,
Where she's so hyperaware of everything?
She picks up on the romance between the guards.
Now we have a little more time to talk about that.
What do you think about this trait?
-I think it just says a lot about her character
And how deeply she cares for others,
Um, and I also think
It's a very good skill to have in the apocalypse,
To listen to every detail and then have that to plan out,
I mean, in this case, an escape, but I think it says a lot about
How much and how deeply she cares for other people
And the little eccentricities of other people,
And I think it's a good skill to have.
-And, you know, 'cause some people were saying like,
"oh, well, is this just something
That's in her imagination?"
But they got the suits... -That's right.
-...So it couldn't have been, right?
-Nope, nope. It's real. It's real.
We wouldn't have gotten the suits otherwise.
They went to do their thing and took off the suits,
And then we grabbed the suits. [laughter]
So it's real. It wasn't in her imagination.
-So I guess it was a thing. -There you go.
-Um, @zack97 on twitter -- on instagram,
From what we talked about earlier, angela,
"why would negan bring up glenn to maggie?
Why would he do that there?"
-I mean, look, negan is always -- he's honest.
Like, I think one of the things
That I really enjoy about his character
Is, like, I don't think negan is much of a liar,
Other than when he has to, like, be on mission.
Like, he kind of just says what he's thinking,
And at least, like, with that, there's no b.S.
Like, he's kind of just putting it out there.
And I think maggie and negan have kind of been
In this fraught situation,
They're pushing against each other,
And, um, you know, I think, in some ways,
Like, he wants the thing to come to a head,
Like, you know -- it's -- that's kind of my take on it
When we were writing it.
Um, it's definitely, like, pro-- provocative,
But she's also provoking him. -Right.
-And so, you know, it's just kind of like,
"let's have it out right now."
-Got it. So you think he's just like, "let's just do --
Let's just -- whatever we need to get on the table,
Let's just do it right here."
-Well, he says -- he says, "let's end it."
He says, "let's end it right here, right now."
Um, but, yeah, he likes to push buttons.
So it's -- it's a -- it's a good 50/50 split,
Not like that 70% split where people like negan
And want him to stick around. [laughter]
-And I like how your posture even changed on that.
"70%."
-I was taking bets here.
I was taking bets in the room,
And there was no way that was gonna happen.
-Well, before we go to break, I want to remind you
That you can now watch episodes of "walking dead"
A full week early on amc+, and there's even
A free seven-day trial offer available.
You may even be able to go on right now
And find out what happens to maggie next episode.
Go check it out at amcplus.Com.
Coming up, we've got that exclusive sneak peek.
We'll be right back on "talking dead live."
[cheers and applause]
♪♪
[cheers and applause]
-Welcome back to "talking dead."
It is now time for our exclusive sneak peek
Of next week's episode. Check it out.
[indistinct radio chatter]
-That was her, from last night.
Did you see how she was looking at us? She knows.
-We're fine. No one knows we tried to leave,
Or believe me, we'd be called int--
-Ezekiel's gone.
In anticipation of your next question,
I looked everywhere, asked around.
No one's saying anything. Someone took him.
Someone knows what we did,
And he's just the first domino to fall.
In anticipation of your follow-up query,
I don't know how I know. I only know that I'm freaking out!
It's probably 'cause he told off the big guy.
Oh, god. Why'd he tell off the big guy?
We should talk to them. We should talk to them.
We can come clean about who we are and where we're really from.
-Eugene, for the last time,
Do not talk to their law enforcement.
Or if you find yourself in a situation
Where you have to, you stick to the story.
-Well, what do we do?
[indistinct conversations]
Wait, what? Be cool.
Ice! Ice!
-You've got one of our people?
What have you done with him? I demand
To know where he's been taken! -Ma'am, calm down.
I don't know where your friend is.
-Then there's no reason for us to continue this conversation.
I'd like to speak to somebody
Who can actually give me answers.
Who do you report to?
-You wanna speak to my supervisor?
-That's right! We wanna talk to the manager!
-[laughs]
[cheers and applause]
Ah.
Oh, my god, you guys just pulled a karen.
That was best. -[laughing] yeah.
-In the karenwealth.
Angela, uh, what do you want to -- [laughs]
"we want to speak to the manager."
What do you want a tease
For the rest of the first eight episodes?
-Uh...
I mean, you know, maggie and negan,
They've got a lot of tension going on,
So there's just kind of a -- there's a great --
Those two are always just really fun to watch, I think.
So that story's got to play out.
Our people are gonna run across
Some really dangerous folks and -- and, um,
Have to navigate that.
Um, our group that just kind of --
Has rolled in with troopers,
They're gonna find a community
Unlike one they've ever seen before,
So, um, you know, it's a variety of, um, things
That feel really, really strange in either direction.
-Well, it's so wonderful to have you here
At the beginning of the final season.
Paola, thank you so much for coming.
So nice to see you live in person.
Jeffrey dean morgan, thank you for driving 53 miles
To that satellite studio in georgia.
-Congratulations. -Thank you so much.
Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited about that. Thank you so much.
My mom is very excited
That you gave us a tiny negan bat as a present.
Um, thank you for watching "talking dead."
My guests -- angela kang, paola lázaro, jeffrey dean morgan.
Don't forget to go to amcplus.Com
To watch next week's episode right now,
And while you're there, make sure to check out
"the walking dead: Origins" to experience
Some of your favorite characters' stories
Told by the actors who play them.
Next week, josh mcdermitt, lauren cohan, and emily kinney,
Beth herself -- greene family reunion.
Stay safe, and take care of each other.
Chris hardwick. See you next week. Bye-bye.
[cheers and applause]