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The Walking Dead just aired one of the most shocking episodes in the show’s history, as 10 different zombified heads — including a few longtime regulars — were left on pikes to mark a border into the Whisperers’ land. But according to star Norman Reedus, the season finale that follows it on Sunday will be just as stunning, but in a different way. And it may have to do with a few snowflakes we saw sprinkling on screen at the very end of the penultimate episode.

“I will say visually the last episode is nothing like you’ve ever seen on The Walking Dead before,” says Reedus. “It’s completely different. It was so fun to shoot. It’s a different look, 1000%, in the end. It’s a huge, visually explosive episode that’s going to be visually stunning.”

Visually stunning? 1000% different? Nothing we’ve ever seen before? What does it all mean? With all the Game of Thrones-like references to winter coming in the last episode, might we finally be waking in a winter wonderland? Indeed, snow is finally coming to the show — a move that is long overdue since our heroes moved up north in season 5 from Georgia to just outside Washington, D.C. (As someone who grew up in our nation’s capital, I can attest snow happens in abundance on an annual basis, and now we will finally see it.)

However, Reedus is not just excited for the weather forecast. The actor also says to expect some surprises in terms of the characters themselves. “There are some personalities at the very end that get wrapped up in a certain way, like you think a person’s far to the left and they end up far to the right,” says the man behind Daryl Dixon. “We ended on a way that’s kind of The Great Escape. It’s not a wrap-it-all-up-in-a-bow episode. It’s definitely a moving forward sort of vibe. It’s just huge.”

Image zoom Gene Page/AMC

Reedus’ enthusiasm for the season-ender extends to the woman who took over showrunning duties for season 9, Angela Kang. “I love the risks that she’s taken,” says Reedus. “I love what Angela’s doing to the show. She’s very punk rock, Angela Kang. She jumps in. There’s a confidence with our crew and with our cast and with our storytelling that we’ve earned over the years. If you’re going to take risks, now’s the time to take them, and they’re all paying off After nine years, you have to reinvent yourself a little bit. I just want to make the show that we want to make, and it feels like that’s what we’re doing. You can feel it in the crew. You can feel it in the cast. You can feel it in the scripts. It’s the show that we want to make.”

Too bad Reedus’ BFF Andrew Lincoln is no longer around to enjoy it. “It’s funny because I talked to Andy the other day,” laughs Reedus. “And he was like, “Man, I picked the wrong time to leave the show because it’s so f—ing good right now.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, you did, dude. You picked the wrong time.’”

For more Walking Dead intel, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.