There was a time when The Walking Dead was a real ratings phenomenon. Between 2014 and 2016 it was the most watched series in the United States among adult audiences, even ahead of productions broadcast on free-to-air television. With its eleventh and final season on the air (this Monday Fox premieres the second of the three batches of episodes into which this final instalment is divided), that phenomenon is a thing of the past, but it continues to attract a significant mass of fans and is still profitable enough for its universe, of which the series is also part, to become a reality. Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyondis going to grow up with a series starring Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), another titled Tales of The Walking Dead and three films starring Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). Because zombies, as we know, refuse to die.
For now, what occupies this franchise derived from the comics created by Robert Kirkman is the end of the mother series. The person most responsible for this The Walking Dead The one who will be in charge of the series’ television journey will be the scriptwriter Angela Kang (Irvine, California, 45 years old), who has been in charge of the series since the ninth season and has been one of its writers since the second. For the team, facing the end of a series that has been on the air for 12 years involves a wide range of feelings, from sadness to a relief that they do not hide. “We have been working during the pandemic, with unique challenges and a lot of changes. It has been exhausting. But we have a lot of affection for this series and there is great sadness in thinking that it is almost over. Especially for those of us who have been with it for a long time, there are many emotions linked to the series. Several of us have had children who have grown up in this time, I gave birth in the third season, for example,” she says in a video call interview with EL PAÍS.
But before that, there’s a penultimate batch of episodes that will see the protagonists mingle with a new community, the Commonwealth, which will introduce new characters and show a new organization in which Daryl and his people will try to fit in. “The apocalypse left everyone on the same level, and now they’ll be in a situation where they have to return to a version of what they were a decade ago. It’s a very jarring transition for many of them,” explains the scriptwriter about this new plot.
In addition to the usual emotions associated with the end of a series, there is the fan factor and the impossibility of satisfying all viewers. Kang knows first-hand the limits to which enthusiastic fans of a series can go. The Walking Dead. “We are very grateful to our fans, even if they sometimes get upset by creative decisions. Indifference would be worse. But sometimes it can be difficult. Some of us have had threats, some actors and myself have had our privacy invaded by fans, and it’s scary. But if it’s just that they have strong opinions about where the story should go, I’m glad they’re so involved. We don’t want to disappoint them, but at the same time, people have different opinions, and they change over time. If we had listened to the fans in season two, we would have had to kill Carol, but we didn’t and she became one of the most beloved characters. We always try to make the best decisions for the story. Sometimes they align with the fans and sometimes they don’t. But we don’t do things on purpose to piss them off.”
If the pressure of taking control of The Walking Dead If that wasn’t enough, now she has to add the pressure of being responsible for finishing the series. “I feel the pressure from the fans, yes, and also from the studio and the network, because it’s a very important show for them. But probably no pressure is worse than the pressure I put on myself to try to get it right. I try to keep perspective because, without mentioning anyone, there are things from another different franchise, in particular one thing, that a lot of fans hated and I loved. It’s very subjective and you’re never going to satisfy 100% of the people,” says Kang, perhaps remembering how fans of another huge global phenomenon, Game of Thronesturned against the writers in its final season.
The Walking Dead has changed a lot over its 11 seasons. It started as the story of a man who wakes up in a hospital bed to discover that the zombie apocalypse has broken out outside his room. Then came other groups of survivors and various experiences that exemplified again and again that man is a wolf to man and that the worst enemy of the living is not the half-dead, but the other living. “That has really always been the underlying theme of this series, how humans can be the monsters. Each season has had a different flavor. For example, this block of episodes has the appearance of thriller and touches of neo noirin addition to the usual horror and action,” Kang explains.
And all of that, with the guidance of Robert Kirkman’s comics as a backdrop, though the show and the comics have in many cases been separated. “Robert has been very generous with us and encouraged us to take what’s great in the comic but also find our own twists on it. I think it’s important to him that the show also surprises people, like the comic did. It’s great to work with an author who isn’t obsessed with us following the book to the letter. But sometimes he has called and asked, ‘Please make sure you do this like the comic. ’”
Kang gives a concrete example of a moment that Kirkman asked him to respect: the death of Alpha (Samantha Morton) at the hands of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). “I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this before… Every time there’s a major character death on the show, we talk about whether we want to do it the same way we do in the comics or whether we want to introduce a twist. I wanted to end at the same point, but get to it in a different way. Kirkman listened to me and said it would be better to do it the way we do in the comics because the fans have been waiting for that particular moment. I thought his explanation was fine, and we respected that.”
Kang combines these months his work in The Walking Dead with the development of the spin-off series that will star Daryl and Carol, for which she will also be the main person in charge. “Working on this series is different than when you do it with new characters, because there is a lot of history behind them. I can’t go into details, but I think the key is to find a way to differentiate the feeling behind each series so that, even if you know these characters in a very deep way, you have the feeling that you can still discover new things about them,” she concludes.
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