NOTE: Spoilers for the season 6 finale
The season 6 finale of The Walking Dead aired last night (April 3) in the US on AMC, introducing infamous character Negan to audiences for the first time on the small screen, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan stepping into the role.
Credit: AMC
Bringing his barbed wire baseball bat to the show, Lucille, Negan was seen bringing somebody's life to an end in the final moments of the episode, but just who is on the receiving end of the blows has been left ambiguous in a cliffhanger ending, meaning viewers won't find out who has died until the show returns for its seventh season later this year.
With many fans furious about how things were brought to an end this season, show runner Scott M Gimple defended the decision to close it in the way it was closed on after-show The Talking Dead.
He explained: "We have to do an episode that justifies (the cliffhanger) to you. We have to do something so great and so intense that you're like, 'OK, alright, fair play'.
"That's the challenge that we have, and we're going to do it. We're going to deliver you something fantastic."
Gimple continued: "We want you to be one of those people in that lineup. We want you to feel that suspense and that terror and that pain. We're going to deliver you a story next season that justifies it."
The show boss also noted: "When we reveal who's on the receiving end, that's going to be the start of another story.
"The kickback effects from that, what it makes everyone into, how they react, how the world changes for everyone - that's the next part of the story."
The Walking Dead season 6 concludes in the UK on FOX tonight (April 4) at 9pm, with the series returning to AMC in the US in October later this year.
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