Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead Says Not to Expect Another Season 6 Style Cliffhanger at the End of Season 7

'As a creative person, I have to acknowledge that all responses are valid,' says comic book creator Kirkman. 'I definitely have to take note that there's a seemingly significant portion of the audience that wasn't happy with that direction, so in that respect I think everyone on the Walking Dead creative team has taken note of that, and I don't know that I would expect a similar cliff-hanger at the end of season 7.'

Myriads of The Walking Dead fans were outraged at how season 6 came to a close. After a lackluster and unfulfilling season of mostly filler episodes, many were hoping that the arrival of Negan and the promised death of a beloved character at the barbwire end of Lucille would make up for the rest of the season's slack. However, fans weren't even given that, with the creative team behind the show opting to keep the identity of the unlucky team member veiled - a decision that drew ire from all corners of the TWD fandom.Thankfully, it seems that the creative team behind TWD has taken note of how dissatisfied many viewers were with the way the show left off season 6. In the August 5th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Robert Kirkman weighed in on the debacle in the cover story "Bat Man Forever," an article that details season 7's focus on the show's new villain, Negan.Though it's great to hear that the writers have realized their mistake (or at the very least, learned that the majority of fans really didn't appreciate what they were going for), the show has been far from perfect as of late, and the cliffhanger at the end of last season was hardly the only problem that needs addressing. In some ways it feels like the creative team has taken advantage of the popularity of the show and hasn't been delivering the same high-stakes storytelling that defined the show early on. Characters that the audience has barely gotten the chance to know are killed off, and the season 1-3 characters have more often than not been given incomplete and unfulfilling arcs as of late. Even though TWD had some pretty memorable moments last year, a season like TWD's season 6 could have very well been a death knell for a less established show.Hopefully Negan's arrival and season 7 can be a return to form for The Walking Dead. There's still an infinite amount of possibilities for the direction the show can take from here, so hopefully it moves in a direction that feels more like what made fans fall in love with the series in the first place.The Walking Dead season 7 will air on AMC on October 23rd.