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When you’re an actor, it’s hard to find job security. Landing a role is hard and keeping one could be just as challenging. Especially if you’re on a show like AMC’s The Walking Dead. The post-apocalyptic zombie drama is known for regularly killing off main characters.

During a Walking Dead spotlight panel at New York City Comic Con, producer Greg Nicotero recalled the anxiety the producers and the cast had about killing off their characters.

“It was always interesting when you knew that a character was going, because the producers would know first, and then they would say, ‘Don’t tell anybody yet, because we have to make the phone calls, and we have to let the actors know. And there were a couple of times when maybe the script got sent out without the actors knowing that they were the ones that were going to go, which is really very uncomfortable.”

According to Nicotero, tensions were so high that cast members feared his phone calls.

“I remember calling Melissa [McBride] one day during break, and I’m like, ‘Hey, it’s Greg Nicotero,’ and she’s like, ‘[curtly] What. What do you want? What’s happening?’ And I was like, ‘I was just calling to say hi.’ And she was like, ‘Are you sure?’ I felt like the Grim Reaper for a minute there.”

Nicotero then recalled a conversation he had with Michael Cudlitz, who played Abraham.

“Michael Cudlitz came and sat in my office one day and said, ‘I love this job. I love these people. This is the greatest job I’ve ever had.’ And I’m like, ‘You ain’t going anywhere!’ This was at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. At 4 o’clock we had a meeting in the screening room, and that’s when Scott [Gimple] pitched, ‘So, it’s going to be Abraham and then Glenn.’ I was like, white.”

Nicotero is referring to The Walking Dead season 6 finale. The episode ended on a cliffhanger as the character Negan turned his barbed-wire baseball bat on a member of Rick’s group. In the comics that was Glenn, but the television series kept Negan’s murder victim a secret until the season 7 premiere. The twist was Negan had two victims, Glenn and Abraham. Unfortunately, this meant Cudlitz was off the show.

Nicotero regretted this, since this move was made hours after their conversation. The producer recalled the shock he felt as Gimple revealed his plans.

“It was like The Mask. My jaw hit the ground, and my tongue rolled out onto the table. And I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’ I had to look at Michael for the next week or two. And it was sad.”

Nicotero then spoke about the tradition the cast and crew have after a character dies (which Popverse previously revealed in another article). “When our characters would die on the show, we would have dinners, and everybody would get together, and they would go to Melissa’s house or my house, and we would celebrate, and we would do skits, and really goofy fun stuff.’ Then of course, when you look at it, you know, John Bernthal did okay. Steven Yeun did okay. Sonequa Martin-Green did okay. It wasn’t terrible that they died off the show. It was more sad for us because we enjoyed working with them.”

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