Jeffrey Dean Morgan and 'TWD' cast on why you should tune into the final 16 episodes of the series even if you stopped watching years ago

• "TWD" continues its final season on AMC and AMC+ this month.
• Insider asked cast members what they'd tell fans who may have stopped watching.

"Is that show still on?"

If you write about, discuss, or are a part of "The Walking Dead," it's a question you're probably used to hearing and seeing.

"That's just people stirring it up," Jeffrey Dean Morgan told Insider over Zoom while speaking about the show's final, 11th season. "They know it's still on."

"That's my favorite. Or, 'Bring Rick Back,'" the actor, who has played Negan on the series since 2016, added, referencing star Andrew Lincoln's departure from the apocalyptic series in season nine.

The question may very well stir the pot for those who still watch, but for the many viewers who departed the series around seasons seven and eight when the show became fully centered around Negan, there's probably an ounce of seriousness to the question. At that point in the series Negan, the former brash and loud-mouthed leader of the Saviors, put Rick, Daryl, and the survivors in a position devoid of hope.

While speaking with some of the cast, we asked what they would say to those who have stopped watching "TWD," but are curious about the final season.

What would they tell them to give the final 16 episodes a shot? Here's what they said.

Seth Gilliam says fans have missed some character development that may have been lacking in previous seasons.

"I think for people who've gone away [...] what they've missed is some great character development," said Gilliam, who has played Father Gabriel on the show since season five, alongside Morgan and costar Lynn Collins.

"The people that they left in the end of season seven are not the people that they would meet in season nine or 10 or definitely 11, for that matter," Gilliam continued.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan says it's more than likely everyone has at least seen an episode of the series.

"[It's] just the end of an era, you know?" Morgan said after Gilliam's response. "It's just the end of something that's been around for a long, long time."

"At one point, I think everybody's seen an episode or two and, I think, just the curiosity of wanting to see how this world kind of ends," he added.

Lynn Collins argues that you'd want to have an informed opinion of the finale since everyone is going to be talking about it anyway.

Collins, who joined the show during its season 10 bonus episodes as Leah, compared the end of "TWD" to the final season of HBO's juggernaut "Game of Thrones."

"Like all these other huge shows like 'Game of Thrones' when they end ... If you're a fan at all of entertainment, don't you want to see it so you can have an opinion?" Collins asked. "You know everybody's gonna have an opinion and wanna talk about it, want to argue about it."

"Jump on board so that you can have an informed take on it when it all comes down," Collins added. "You can't make everybody happy. We know that. It's impossible."

"I was raised in the theater and I always felt like if people leave not quite sure if they liked it or not, but definitely thinking about it, that, to me, meant it was a success," Collins said of what art should do for viewers. "I do think people are going to be like, 'Whoa.'"

The next eight episodes of "TWD" take many of the survivors to a new community called the Commonwealth, where they've attempted to rebuild society back to some version of what it was before the dead took over.

Of that arc, Collins said, "If you really like engage with this, I think it's gonna be super fulfilling the way it all tumbles down."

Teo Rapp-Olsson spoke of the show's influence on making the zombie genre popular again.

Rapp-Olsson, who joins "TWD" as its newest antagonist, Sebastian, reflected on what the series has meant for the zombie genre.

"[It's] something that has captured so many people's attention," Rapp-Olsson told Insider. "I think it's fair to say [it] kind of brought zombies back into this main light."

"Seeing it come to a finale and a culmination, especially one on the scale that it's gonna do, in terms of them coming across this last hurdle, I think is just a really cool way to see a sendoff to these iconic characters that people have been following for over a decade," Rapp-Olson added.

"TWD's" final 16 episodes debut on February 20 on TV. If you're an AMC+ subscriber, you'll have access to the episodes a week early, starting Sunday. You can read our review of the next two episodes here and follow along with our show coverage here.