‘Walking Dead’ Season 7 Premiere Is ‘Worth The Wait,’ Says Norman Reedus

Unhappy with how Season 6 of “The Walking Dead” ended? Well, we’ve got good news. Actor Norman Reedus says that the Season 7 premiere is “worth the wait.”

Fans of the AMC series had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of comic book villain Negan for multiple seasons. The new big bad, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, made his debut in the Season 6 finale — and took the life of a beloved survivor. However, viewers didn’t get to see who Negan killed. Instead, the season ended with the villain using his barbed wire bat, lovingly named Lucille, to brutally beat to death an unknown character. The screen cut to black without identifying the victim.

Some viewers were outraged by the cliffhanger, disappointed by the long wait for the reveal. But according to Reedus, who plays Daryl, everything will “pay off.”

“All I can say is it’s worth the wait,” the 47-year-old actor told The Daily Beast. “You just have to trust us. The show’s large and a lot of people like it and it’s done really well. You just gotta trust us that we’re telling a story and you’ll get the answers that you want.”

Reedus’ words echo what creator Robert Kirkman has been trying to say for months. “Season 7 is going to be pretty great … I know people don’t like the cliffhanger aspect of it, but I like to think that everything up to that moment was pretty amazing, and people were digging it,” Kirkman told Uproxx. “I think people are discounting the fact that Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Negan are in the show now, so you’re going to be seeing stuff like that pretty much every episode of Season 7.”

As was previously reported, in an effort to avoid spoilers leaking, the show didn’t even film the highly speculated death scene at the time of the Season 6 finale. So the actors, as well as fans, were left in the dark regarding the victim. However, Reedus did tell The Daily Beast that filming for Season 7 is currently underway. The network is allegedly doing their best to continue keeping the victims identity a secret by threatening fan-run pages, like The Spoiling Dead Fans. According to the group Facebook page, AMC is threatening to sue them for copyright infringement if they post their “Lucille victim prediction.”

“The Walking Dead” will return to AMC this fall. For those going zombie withdrawal, you can catch Norman Reedus on his new AMC series, “Ride with Norman Reedus.” The show premieres tonight, Sunday, June 12, at 10 p.m. EDT.