We’ve had the pleasure of spending this morning with 9 members of The Walking Dead cast alongside Creative Director Greg Nicotero who has also directed 18 of the episodes over the course of the seven seasons. The cast are currently on their European Tour with different members heading to different places to promote the fantastic zombie show which has to be up there as one of the best shows currently on TV.

Obviously this will contain spoilers if you aren’t you to date so you have been warned! If you missed our interview with Greg Nicotero and Norman Reedus or with Austin Amelio, Josh McDermitt & Tom Payne click the relvevant links to find out just how the cast felt about losing two beloved cast-members in Abraham and Glenn and how they page a homage to those who have been and gone on the set of The Walking Dead.

Below is our final The Walking Dead interview with Ross Marquand (Aaron), Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel) & Alanna Masterson (Tara) who talk about their favourite moments from Season 7, what Andrew Lincoln is like to work with and what audiences can expect from the season 7 finale.

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How does this season finale differ to last?

Seth Gillian – I think at the end of last season there was still this hope that we were getting Maggie to the Hilltop to help her. I think this year and we’ll see in the next couple of episodes that they’re done reasoning with these men. They’ve decided if we’re going to fight with them we need to come and them with a unified front which is why we’re working with different neighbours like the Oceanside folk, the ‘Garbage People’ as we’re affectionately calling them!

Alanna – ‘The Garbage Pail Kids’

Seth – The Hilltoppers and The Kingdom and we’re finally starting to see these groups come together and pool our resources and finally fight against them. It’s an exciting place in the show’s history because it’s never been done before.

Is it nice to watch other episodes where you don’t appear?

It’s more enjoyable for us when it’s an episode we’re not in. Because we’re not criticising our own work.

Do you get to see other scripts?

Seth – Yeah, we read each other’s scripts. In Game of Thrones they don’t – it’s just portions. If you’re a series regular you get all the scripts.

How is your show survived 7 seasons and sees no end where others may fail?

Seth – Strictly speaking about the zombies I think that’s down to Greg Nicotero and his team and the creativity that they’ve been able to express and the different kind of zombies and walkers that they’ve had. Bloated ones, trees growing out of them!

More specifically I think the zombies are great to look at but it’s a show about people. I think a lot of zombie shows / movies they don’t go very far beyond the zombies and this show develops the characters relationships to each other. The zombies are kind of a backdrop in a sense for the true story of what people are like when society breaks down and there’s no structure, law and order.

Greg Nicotero The Walking Dead

Alanna – I think also the casting is what makes the show so successful. I think if you tried to make the walking dead today with all new  people but the same scripts, it wouldn’t feel the same. The show runners pick the right people for the right role.

We’ve been watching Andrew Lincoln for a long time now from Teacher, what’s he like to work with?

Alanna – He’s the angel above all angels. He’s the best of the best, the goodest of the good!

Seth – Even when he’s tired he’s not tired. He leads by example. It’s also fun to listen to him keep his American accent up!

Alanna – He sets the tone everyday and works harder than any of us. If he’s on hour 15 and still running, he’s an awesome leader.

Ross – I was so nervous cos I watched the show before i got cast in it. On the plane ride over i was sweating like crazy. The very first cast-member I met was Andy and he gave me this great big hug. And he said (in a great English accent!), ‘Welcome to the family! It’s great to have you here. You need to know the weather gets really crazy, it gets really hot then it gets really cold’ and he couldn’t have been sweeter. All that anxiety just went away. He’s the best. I don’t think there’s a better number one on a call-sheet that I’ve ever worked with.

What’s been your highlight from season 7?

Ross – I think for me it was the lake sequence for me.  I think that was a great episode to show both action and drama. It was the first time for a lot of fans to get onboard with Aaron because Rick was finally ‘oh I can trust you since you’ve risked your life for me and the group’.

Alanna – I think for me it was 6. That was the hardest – the best and the worst at the same time as I was in every scene and I’d just had a baby. I didn’t know I had all that energy with just an hour or 2 sleep every night. I was really proud of myself being like ‘I’m running across a bunch of cars and it’s super hot and I’m still alive!’

Ross – They had to CG the baby out! Like Yoda!

You mentioned it being physically hard how about mentally when the scripts are so harrowing?

Alanna – Some days are definitely worth than others. You can be like ‘f*ck this is so upsetting’.

Seth – That’s one of the joys of acting where you get to go to dark or disturbing places and then leave them behind. We always know that we’re not alone because everyone on the show is going to have a moment that is going to be somewhat challenging emotionally and psychologically for them. So knowing that everyone is going through it everyone is very supportive when they have their movements to do that kind of thing. So if you need to stay in that state of being all day long, you’re supported doing that. If you need to drop and do impersonations then people are supportive of that, even if it is tiring and not so funny (looks at Ross!).

All Laugh!

What can you tell us about the finale and how do you top the previous?

All – It’s a good one!

Ross – I’ve got one word….. ALIENS!

Alanna – I think the end of the season is going to be a great payoff

Ross – ALIEN ZOMBIES!

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The Walking Dead season 7 part B is currently on-air.  It premieres on Mondays at 9pm on FOX.  The season finale will take place on 3rd April.