The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln On The Season Finale’s Alternate Ending
Season 4 of AMC’s The Walking Dead has officially come to a close with last night’s season finale titled ‘A.’ The episode, which merged the storylines of Rick, Carl, and Michonne with Daryl Dixon and his band of “claimed” men, saw the band eventually make their way to Terminus, something that the entire second half of the season had been teasing for months.
SPOILER WARNING: What follows involves details of the season finale of The Walking Dead
Actor Andrew Lincoln, who plays the pivotal character Rick Grimes, appeared for the first time ever on the aftershow Talking Dead, hosted by Chris Hardwick, along with The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Grimple. Together, the three men discussed the character arc of Rick, fielded questions from fans via Skype for the first time ever, and gave some vague details about what’s coming up in Season 5.
Lincoln, who was asked about the pressure he felt being tasked with having the last line of the season, humorously recounted how nervous he’d been when they filmed the scene and how fellow castmate Norman Reedus kept assuring him that things were going great. He then mentioned something else that may be of interest to The Walking Dead fans, “There was a variation on that last line. I think you can all imagine what that word was.”
The studio audience understandably laughed as he continued, “The other one was a little bit spicier.” Lincoln admitted that he didn’t want to use the line the show ultimately went with and that they only did one take of it while the others “felt really good.” Grimple casually joked that it wasn’t an option for the show due to Federal Communications Commission regulations, though it does seem odd that The Walking Dead features so much blood, gore, and controversial topics on humanity in an apocalyptic atmosphere yet has to be mindful of its f-bombs.
Another interesting detail spilled about the episode included the fact that The Walking Dead executive producer Greg Nicotero asked Andrew Lincoln in the week leading up to the confrontational scene with Rick’s group and Daryl’s group whether he wanted chicken or beef to be used as his “gag” prop, used when Rick bites the neck of Joe, the leader of the “claimed” gang. Lincoln eventually settled on chicken and was given the option between cooked and raw. When Nicotero admitted that the raw would probably look more realistic, Lincoln agreed to it. “At four thirty in the morning with a mouthful of blood and raw chicken… it was the wrong call.”
What did you think of last night’s finale of The Walking Dead and do you think the season would have ended stronger if Rick’s line had indeed contained the f-bomb instead of using the decidedly tamer “screwing?”
[Image via AMC]
