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The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has continued to defend the controversial season six finale, stressing that it was no "ratings grab".
Negan beat to death one of Rick's group in the climax - but the victim's identity was left a deliberate mystery, to the displeasure of many fans.
"I just want to point out that a lot of what you seem to hate about the finale are your assumptions of how season seven will start. 'The death will have no impact now', etc. - I assure you it will," Kirkman said during a Reddit AMA in response to one frustrated viewer, who said there will be "no emotional impact" when the show returns.
"You're welcome to be unhappy with the episode that aired. Was it a misstep? Maybe. Only time will tell.
"Also, there's a lot of assumptions about why we did what we did, 'ratings grab' which also isn't true.
"That said, I love you for watching six seasons of the show and reading the comic. I appreciate the support up to this point, and I'm sorry you're unhappy. Standing by our decision doesn't mean I think you're immature in any way or wrong to feel the way you do. I just know how much the fanbase is treasured and respected behind the scenes, so it bums me out when people make a lot of assumptions."
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Kirkman then defended showrunner Scott Gimple, saying that he "loses sleep trying to make the fanbase happy".
The creator repeated that viewers should watch the season seven premiere to get 'both halves' of the story.
"Scott Gimple and I spent many months going over exactly how to stage it and how to adapt that scene," he wrote. "Many options were discussed... and it will all make sense why we did what we did.
"Season seven is very strong, we know what's coming. If you stick around, you'll like where we're taking things."
The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and on FOX in the UK.
