Rick will never be the same man after his first encounter with Negan, and that’s probably a good thing. Greg Nicotero, The Walking Dead director and special effects artist, recently spoke to Yahoo! about the power shift in the upcoming Season 7 premiere.
According to Nicotero, the cast and crew didn’t particularly enjoy shooting The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere . The production went in knowing they had to say goodbye to cast member, but the episode marks a huge turning point in the story. Until now, Rick’s been able to lead the group out of messed up situations. They’ve encountered vicious groups with minimal losses since leaving the prison, but that’s not the case this time around.
“The season premiere really redefines grief. It redefines pain, and emotion, and if you think watching the finale that you are already at rock bottom with these people, you’ve got a lot further to go,” Nicotero told Yahoo! . “This season’s intense. There’s not really a lot of let up. The show continues to get darker, and that’s something that we had always planned from day one, is that we want the show to be dark, and we want the show to be different. With the introduction of Negan, it gives us the perfect palate and the perfect opportunity to explore something that we’ve never explored before. The world is a much, much bigger place. You have a guy like Rick who ends Season 6 with, ‘Oh yeah, if they want to deal, you just tell them to come talk to me…’ For him to be in the position that he’s left in, on his knees… it’s rough.”
Someone pulling a power move on Rick might be a good thing for Alexandria. Rick has sort of lost his way since losing his wife Lori in the prison. He’s slowly gotten colder and is too eager to resort to violence to take care of threats. When the show introduce Morgan for the third time to Alexandria, it served as a reminder to Rick that violence isn’t always the answer. Morgan begged Rick to not kill Negan’s group , but Rick believed it was the only way. Now, Rick must be smarter and learn how to coexist with other communities.
The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere Oct. 23 on AMC.
