SPOILER ALERT: Storyline and character spoilers ahead for the “Last Day on Earth” episode of The Walking Dead.



Don’t feel so bad that you’re still in the dark about the big casualty in Sunday’s Season 6 finale, little Walking Dead buckaroos… TWD executive producer and finale director Greg Nicotero won’t even share the victim’s identity with his mom. And, you know, he kinda owes her…

“She pulled the mom card,” Nicotero tells Yahoo TV. “I got a phone call from my parents this morning, and my mom first of all insisted that I tell her who died. Second of all, she told me that she had nightmares all night about it, so… good, and I’m sorry, both at the same time.”

Nicotero confirms he’ll be the director for the Season 7 premiere next fall, the episode that will answer that finale cliffhanger about whose head met Negan’s barbed wire-covered bat, Lucille. So, frustrated though many fans are about having to wait six months to find out which beloved member of Rick’s group was killed in the finale, Nicotero promises they won’t be disappointed in the direction the story takes next season.

The show’s special effects whiz, who has directed the season premiere and finale episodes of TWD for Seasons 5 and 6, also talked to Yahoo TV about his view on cliffhangers, and why this one was the right way to end Season 6, filming the introduction of “rock star” Negan, how the Season 7 premiere will start, and which scene from the finale makes him tear up every time he sees it.

The cliffhanger ending has frustrated some fans, coming at the end of what was an incredibly intense, emotional episode. What do you think about that?

I remember growing up and sitting in the theater and watching The Empire Strikes Back and having Darth Vader say, “I’m your father.” My mind was completely blown. I had to wait two years until I got a chance to see how that story played out, but I wasn’t angry… I was exhilarated that the story was taking a new direction. We have an obligation on The Walking Dead to keep this story moving. I really feel that this ending was the quintessential ending to Season 6, which showed a lot our characters, especially Rick, making that transition in episode nine to be the guy who is going to lead this entire community to survive. Then watching it stripped away bit by bit at the end. The cavalry’s not coming over the hill. This is the first time that we’ve ever seen Rick and his entire group in this situation, where they’re utterly, utterly helpless. It’s just emotionally gut-wrenching.

Related: ‘The Walking Dead’ Finale Recap: As Long As It’s All Of Us, We Can Do Anything

I think it would have done the show a disservice to end the season with a character death, because as we’ve proven on the show over and over again, when characters die, it changes everyone. When Tyrese died, when Beth died, when Lori died, when Shane died, when Herschel died, those deaths changed our characters, and to end the show where we’re in mid-emotion, I think, would do a disservice to our story.

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There’s no scene, no character intro that’s been more anticipated on the show than Negan’s debut. You really did build the drama up going into that final scene… it was the emotional equivalent of a horror movie. How did you approach that differently than you would any other episode or key scene?

One of the things was, as the episode progresses, visually, the story that I wanted to tell was that the world was getting smaller and smaller. If you notice the scenes inside the RV, you notice that by the time they come across the third roadblock, the camera angles got tighter and tighter. I really wanted to sell the idea that it was claustrophobic, and that they were feeling boxed in. In the first scene when they’re on the road, it’s like, “Oh, you should treat your people like it’s their last day on Earth,” and I have these very big wide shots that show sort of a western town, and the standoff between the good guys and the bad guys. Then after that, I really wanted to stay inside the RV with our people. We’re looking out the front windshield, and they’re not out in the world anymore. The world is not a safe place for them. They’re being herded into a smaller and smaller area. The last time that we have a confrontation, the shots on them inside the RV are close-ups of each character.