Sunday’s kickass premiere of the second of The Strolling Useless’s three final-season arcs answered an entire lotta questions. What precisely does a hwacha do? Would Judith and Gracie make it out of the basement in a single piece? For pity’s sake, was Canine OK?!? But it surely additionally left us with an entire bunch extra. Fortunately, showrunner Angela Kang was type sufficient to Zoom with TVLine to offer solutions.
TVLINE | So, Angela, Maggie and Gabriel get, uh, fairly freakin’ darkish on this episode (recapped right here). Did that depart you with the sensation that, “OK, now I’ve gotta redeem them?” Or is that simply how chilly they should be of their world now?
For each of them, that is on the peak of a run of simply actually onerous selections that they’ve made. By the tip of the episode, their heads are spinning, and so they have plenty of questions for themselves. We see it somewhat bit within the scene with Daryl and Gabriel by the fireplace speaking about, “Is that this simply the way in which issues are?” And also you see it in Maggie’s grief over Alden and her shock at seeing Negan sort of stroll off [rather than fight her to the death]. She’s considering, “Have I gone too far? Or is that this precisely how far I wanted to go?” So I believe after we decide up with them subsequent, we’ll see them determining the right way to transfer ahead.
TVLINE | The timing of Alden’s demise struck me as attention-grabbing. Had he lived, it may have affirmed that Maggie was on the correct path, making unimaginable selections. However since he died, it felt prefer it was being piled on her. “Nope, even doing all of the onerous stuff, it nonetheless received’t go nicely for you.”
Yeah, we talked lots within the writers’ room about Alden, like, when Maggie leaves him behind, does she know that he’s dying and so they’re by no means going to see him again? Or is there one thing to coming again to him? Finally, we felt that there wanted to be a consequence to how injured he was by the Reapers.
TVLINE | And a consequence for Maggie.
In some methods, it highlights for her that it’s type of this factor the place you win and also you lose on the identical time. Like, either side [in that skirmish] misplaced so many individuals. It leaves her questioning, like Daryl is, is that this all there’s to life? Are we doomed to sort of be preventing to the demise on a regular basis? It didn’t really feel completely proper for there to be only a reward on the finish of this. She hoped that there could be, however the actuality was, all of them needed to pay closely for the battle they undertook.
TVLINE | Was there ever any consideration of Alden changing into what Dante was within the comedian books — a post-Glenn love curiosity for Maggie? ’Trigger that’s what I initially pegged him as.
You’re truly fully proper. He was initially solid as a Dante-like character. Not Dante himself — we clearly used him in a unique type of context, as we do generally. However we modified gears at a sure level as a result of Lauren [Cohan] left the present for some time, and we knew she was coming again sooner or later. However by the point she did, it felt just like the characters had type of advanced alongside completely different tracks than they might have if she’d been there the entire time. That occurs regularly, like when one in every of our solid members takes a job and leaves the present or takes a hiatus. The storylines begin to diverge from what our authentic intention was, so we type of chase the brand new storyline.
TVLINE | Do you assume, in your coronary heart of hearts, that Negan was proper, that Maggie would have finally made the choice, “Yup, I’ve gotta kill him, too”?
I don’t know if he was proper. However I believe he believes in his coronary heart of hearts that he’s proper. And possibly she would have. I believe what’s true is that these two individuals, at this level within the story, can not dwell in peace subsequent to one another. He’s by no means going to really feel snug round her, as a result of he doesn’t belief that she received’t change her thoughts and go rogue once more. And for her, it’s simply too painful for her to be round him. Even figuring out that he has made some strikes to redeem himself, he’s by no means apologized to her [for murdering her husband before her eyes]. He’s overtly mentioned that he needs he’d killed all of them. They want some area from one another, so he’s not flawed in considering that [it’s best that he strike out on his own].
TVLINE | I used to be actually trying ahead to Daryl and Connie’s reunion, after which… it appeared kinda… pleasant. Like, was I making up the love story I assumed was enjoying out between them?
[Laughs] These two undoubtedly have some chemistry. However I believe Daryl has attention-grabbing chemistry with lots of people. They undoubtedly look after one another. The attention-grabbing factor is that even Carol acknowledges that there’s something particular about the way in which they work together with one another.
TVLINE | At the very least I didn’t make it up — Carol noticed it, too!
However issues have modified over time, too. So we’ll see what occurs with them subsequent.
TVLINE | Truthfully, I don’t know what I used to be anticipating. Daryl wasn’t going to run as much as Connie and be like, “I like you and may’ve instructed you ages in the past!”
No, that’s not likely Daryl, is it? What I assumed was actually candy was the way in which Norman [Reedus] simply dropped the basket of apples in that scene [when Daryl first saw Connie]. That was his alternative, and there’s actual pleasure from that character that Connie’s alive and nicely after all of the ache that he and Carol went by means of feeling like she had been misplaced in that cave.
TVLINE | Let’s discuss Daryl as a Commonwealth trooper — clearly, that’s a giant visible shock. What can we glean from his and Maggie’s standoff about how hunky-dory issues actually are on the Commonwealth?
Any society has issues which might be working for it and issues which might be the darkish facet. For Daryl, he’s received to fall in with the Commonwealth military. The way in which he will get into it’s possibly somewhat sudden, however that’s the story that’s going to play out over the B block of the season.
TVLINE | How important is the Daryl/Maggie battle? It appears… main, if she’s locking the gates and saying, “Nope, you possibly can’t are available in.”
We’ll uncover over time what are the roots of that battle and the way we received there, however there’s clearly some clear rigidity that’s taking place between the Commonwealth and Hilltop. And that’s not a straightforward factor, given how large and highly effective the Commonwealth is.
