AMC stunned fans of The Walking Dead across the world when it announced that the 11th season would mark the conclusion of the beloved series.

And it turns out fans were not the only people shocked by the announcement. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Negan, has opened up about the announcement in an interview with Collider.

“The news, when we got it in the middle of the pandemic, was a complete surprise, not only to me and the rest of the actors, but to everybody involved in the show from production," he said, elaborating as follows:

"Scott Gimple and Angela Kang had no idea either. It came from nowhere and there was such a huge pivot. I think they had Season 11 all mapped out, where they were going to go, and suddenly it became, ‘We also have to close the story, in a way.’"

"It took everybody by surprise, so it was a massive pivot. And then, they threw in the six tacked-on episodes to Season 10, and instead of doing 16, we’re going to do 24 more. There was a lot of stuff to wrap our heads around.”

Despite dropping in the ratings, it remains one of the top-rated scripted shows on cable, so the announcement did come as a huge surprise.

It's unfortunate the creative forces had an eleventh season mapped out, but fans had long believed the series would end shortly after the introduction of the Commonwealth.

If you watch The Walking Dead online, you know we're slowly but surely unpeeling the layers on this comic book arc.

It's sad that some of the cast appears to have been left in the dark ahead of the announcement, but at least we still have 24 full episodes to say goodbye to the characters.

Even at that, the franchise is set to expand with even more spinoffs, including a Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus-led spinoff.

It's still unclear whether a Negan-centric spinoff could materialize.

What are your thoughts on the show possibly having no end in sight at one point?

Would you watch a Negan-centric series?

Hit the comments below.

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.