As Walking Dead fans know, the show's Season 5 midseason finale saw the demise of Beth Greene. Actress Emily Kinney made her exit from the series after being granted a two-season arc that found her reconciling herself to the realities of the world as it had become far more than she had previously. We were able to speak with Kinney recently about her exit from the series, why Beth made the choices she did, who would be the last man standing in this world, and what she's moving onto next.

Saying Goodbye to The Walking Dead

“ I think she suddenly felt like she not only wanted to reunite with the group but she needed to step up in this physical, violent way. It was a mistake.

Why Did Beth DO That?

“ It's kind of like telling her, "I get it now. I'm going to take you down."

“ She finally does find a certain strength that makes her better suited to live in this world. Then it just ends in a flash.

Yeah, it's obviously been a really big chapter in my life. I've worked on the show for four seasons now and lived part-time in Atlanta. So it's definitely sad for me, but I think like anything it's also exciting too, because I have been playing the same character for so long. I think any actor, any artist, wants to work on new projects, no matter how successful one project is. You can't help but start daydreaming about your next project or what you might make next. But I'm definitely sad to go, and sad to leave a show -- there's something about making stuff and never knowing if it will reach an audience even. So one of the really satisfying things about working on The Walking Dead is knowing it's going to reach such a great, big audience. And all the people I work with are so amazing, so you know that the work you do is going to be cut the right way, and the DP, Mike, is amazing. You know, you become so close with these people that you really trust them. So I feel like it brought out some of my best work, and I'm sad to leave my friends and coworkers.Yeah, I think it was a moment of overconfidence in a certain way. I think she suddenly felt like she not only wanted to reunite with the group but she needed to step up in this physical, violent way. It was a mistake. [Laughs] In a way she got what she wanted still, with the Noah thing. It was like, "Now I want it all. I don't want to leave here feeling like I didn't completely, you know, bring Noah." I think she almost got this moment of like, "Now I want everything." She is a lot stronger mentally and physically by the end of episode eight and her time at the hospital. I think she just had that moment of like, "Now I want it all." She just pushed it too far.Well, early in the episode, she pushes the cop down the elevator, and I think that was something she didn't realize she was necessarily capable of doing. I think she meant, you don't even know how terrible you can be until you're pushed in that way. And the whole time in the hospital, Dawn is talking a lot about how we're doing this for the greater good. We're doing all these terrible things, and I'm letting these terrible things happen, but it's because we're going to be saved eventually. It's to survive. So I think that moment is saying, "Oh, I get it now. I have to protect myself, and sometimes I have to go that extra bit, that's maybe not morally right." It's kind of like telling her, "I get it now. I'm going to take you down."Yeah, I don't know the message. One thing that I talked to [showrunner] Scott [Gimple} a lot about and one thing he said was, "It's like a tragedy." She finally does find a certain strength that makes her better suited to live in this world. Then it just ends in a flash. I don't know what the message of that is supposed to be, but I think it's just the end of her journey in a very abrupt way. For me the message was there's not always a rhyme or reason to it.