The Walking Dead ended on a crazy cliffhanger last season when Negan beat…someone to death with a baseball bat.
That’s not us contorting ourselves to avoid revealing spoilers: The AMC megahit actually didn’t show viewers who died. Showrunner Scott Gimple went so far as to film deaths for all 11 possible characters to short-circuit any drones photographing the set. That’s commitment.
[SPOILERS AHEAD] Negan kills Glenn in the comics, but the two narratives seem almost tangentially related at this point. And of course there are some eagle-eared fans who have their own speculation.
Now, thanks to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, we know that several characters are safe. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Tom Payne, Austin Amelio, and Xander Berkeley have all been promoted to series regulars, which means that none of their characters will die at Negan’s hands. Morgan and Amelio both play villains, and Morgan plays Negan himself, so we knew they were safe. Payne plays a member of Team Rick. Berkeley plays a member of the Hilltop Colony that will soon clash with our heroes. So that’s an interesting development.
The addition of those four actors brings the series regular total to 20, which is an all-time high. Then again, the show is a cash cow for AMC so we doubt they’ll rush to downsize. Aside from the four new guys, the list of regulars is as follows: Andrew Lincoln (Rick), Norman Reedus (Daryl), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Lauren Cohan (Maggie), Chandler Riggs (Carl), Danai Gurira (Michonne), Melissa McBride (Carol), Michael Cudlitz (Abraham), Lennie James (Morgan), Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha), Alanna Masterson (Tara), Christian Serratos (Rosita), Josh McDermitt (Eugene), Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel), Ross Marquand (Aaron), Austin Nichols (Spencer).
That's the list now, though one of the 11 surely will not be a regular after this season. Of course, they could continue to feature in flashbacks or just straight up return from the dead like Glenn does.
Katelyn Nacon, who plays Carl's love interest Enid, is still just recurring.
More details as we have them.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT