'The Walking Dead' showrunner says the show's upcoming series finale would 'probably' be different if there wasn't a pandemic or spinoffs

• "The Walking Dead" showrunner Angela Kang tells Insider she's "happy with the ending" of the show.
• Kang said if it weren't for the pandemic, an extended season, and spinoffs, the ending may be different.

"The Walking Dead" showrunner Angela Kang is proud of the series finale they have but says the show's ending "probably" could've been different if there wasn't a pandemic.

"I'll say I am happy with the ending we have," Kang told Insider over Zoom while discussing Sunday's mid-season finale. "I really hope it satisfies the fans that have been with us all these years. Everybody worked really hard on it."

When asked if the finale is what Kang was originally working towards pre-pandemic or if the ending is the result of the final season announced in fall 2020 in addition to setting up two spinoffs (the Carol/Daryl and Maggie/Negan shows), and a Rick Grimes movie, the showrunner said, "I think that anything that we do creatively is obviously affected by the circumstances around it, because things aren't made in a vacuum."

"So if it wasn't a pandemic, if it wasn't a 24-episode season, if there weren't spinoffs would we have ended it differently? Probably. But that doesn't mean that what we have done within these circumstances, isn't something that we aren't proud of."

Kang added: "We are still proud of this and feel that there's a lot for people to really love. So that's my best hope. It's interesting to think about the theoreticals because of course, you know, you change any one factor, and everything changes."

Star Ross Marquand told Insider in February that, before the pandemic, they had been discussing more seasons of the show.

"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 in September 2020. "Just a short time before we were talking about plans for even season 12 and beyond."

News of the show's final, 11th season caught the cast off-guard after a bonus six episodes were already announced for season 10, which were made with producibility in mind during the ongoing pandemic.

You can read our full interview with Angela Kang here and follow along with our "Walking Dead" coverage here.