'The Walking Dead' chief says the show's upcoming finale is not about setting up the show's many spin-offs

• "The Walking Dead" finale will not solely serve its many upcoming spin-offs.
• "TWD" chief Scott M. Gimple told Insider they didn't want the spin-offs to affect the series finale.

When "The Walking Dead" finally ends its run after 11 seasons this year, its finale won't simply serve to set up the show's many spin-offs.

"The finale is about completing 'The Walking Dead' story, not setting up spin-offs," "TWD" universe chief Scott M. Gimple told Insider when we asked at the show's San Diego Comic-Con press conference whether or not the season 11 series finale will have a definitive ending or if it will leave things more open-ended for the show's several upcoming spin-offs.

"There's room for those spin-offs, but the full-on 'The Walking Dead' finale concludes the story of this 11 years," Gimple continued, adding, "We didn't want this stuff to get in the way of that stuff."

Gimple added that both the original series and the spin-offs "live together very nicely."

Showrunner Angela Kang, who was also present at the press conference, echoed Gimple's response when speaking about the upcoming series finale, but acknowledged that the show will leave doors open for continuing stories in "TWD" universe.

"The goal is that even if there were no spin-offs, it would feel like there's a closure to the show," Kang told Insider. "The show itself needs its own ending, but, doors are left open as they so often are in life and as they were even in the ending of the comic," Kang added. "There's always a story that's continuing once the story that you tell on-screen has ended."

It's tough to believe the finale won't largely serve to set up 'TWD' universe spin-offs

Since the surprising announcement of the show's final season, AMC has announced three spin-offs starring characters from the flagship series seemingly confirming that those characters — Daryl (Norman Reedus), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) — will survive the series finale months before it airs.

The final episodes will have to spend at least some time setting up future stories.

A big concern is that these final eight episodes were given the task of concluding the final Commonwealth arc of the comic while setting up at least two spin-off shows. The final episodes will also introduce seemingly smarter zombies.

Hopefully, the final block of "TWD" episodes won't feel overstuffed.

Are viewers even getting the 'TWD' finale that we were originally intended to receive? There were plans to carry on the show.

The most recent trailer for the final episodes claims that "11 seasons have all led to this."

It's a great marketing line, but have they?

While Gimple and Kang told press that fans will receive a concrete ending to "The Walking Dead," it may not have been the original ending they were working towards.

In February, Ross Marquand, who has played Aaron on the series since season five, told Insider that they had been plotting out future seasons of the show before the show's final season was announced.

"I got this call and they're on the other side of the planet saying this is gonna be the last bit," Marquand told Insider of learning about the show's final season. "Just a short time before we were talking about plans for even season 12 and beyond."

In an interview with Collider, Morgan recalled how everyone, including Gimple and Kang, were taken by "complete surprise." At the time, he thought they already had a version of season 11 "all mapped out" before it was announced to be the final season.

Whatever plans they may have had for future stories were possibly rolled into the bonus season 10 episodes and extended final season. It's also possible some of the ideas for future "TWD" seasons are heading to some of the spin-offs.

'The Walking Dead' finale will likely be different from the comic

Whatever the ending of the show is, it's likely to be very different from the comic.

In Robert Kirkman's adaptation, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is shockingly shot and killed by Sebastian in the comic's second-to-last issue. The comic then moves forward 25 years with a grown-up Carl who is married to Carol's daughter, Sophia.

Walkers are almost all but extinguished except for a few that Glenn and Maggie's grown son Hershel carts around. Hershel, named after Maggie's beloved father, grows up to be a selfish jerk who feels like a far cry from any of his relatives.

On the show, Carl died years ago and Rick is set to return in a spin-off series of his own next year. We may still get someone to take the place of Rick's death and a flash-forward with a grown Judith in place of Carl, but the rest of the ending will likely diverge.

The show is also filled with characters who long outlived their character deaths like Carol, Rosita, and Father Gabriel. Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon is an original character in the show.

Marquand told Insider that they "might not be visiting some of the stuff towards the end of the comic."

"I don't think they're rushing anything and I certainly don't think they're truncating anything except for the stuff towards the end of the comic series," Marquand said.

"The Walking Dead" will wrap up its final season on AMC starting October 2. You can follow along with our coverage here.