'The Walking Dead' Season 7 Finale Is Hopeful

The Walking Dead has had its ups and downs, but one of the reasons that fans have stuck with the show for quite so long is thanks to its charismatic lead character, Rick Grimes. Played by British actor Andrew Lincoln, Rick has been through a lot of trauma during the show's terrifying version of the apocalypse. Despite his many hardships, Rick has always endeavored to stand up for the fellow human beings in his gang while raising his children in a less than favorable world. So it's more than a little exciting to hear from Andrew Lincoln himself that The Walking Dead's Season 7 finale is seriously amazing.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday, Lincoln said,

“There’s a palpable sense of energy and excitement in that final episode. I think that the crew felt it, this sort of brilliancy. And it was weird because it was the end of a long season and yet everybody was sort of champing at the bit to keep going. I’ve never felt that before in the show."

His excitement about the final episode, and the fact that the cast and crew all felt as though something magical was being created, is amazing news for fans of The Walking Dead.

Season 7 has been a trying time for all of the characters on The Walking Dead. Rick, in particular, has had to get used to life under Negan's rule, a huge adjustment for the former leader. While the finale is sure to signal many more changes ahead, it's exciting to hear that the episode might manage to be uplifting, and not just filled with the total devastation we're accustomed to from the show.

Lincoln told Entertainment Weekly that everybody was so pumped filming the Season 7 finale, that they didn't want to stop. He said,

"Everybody was like, ‘Yeah, darn it, let’s do Season 8 now!’ It was a really unique situation and everybody felt it. So I think if we get it right, it will be an incredibly satisfying ending to Season 7.”

The Love Actually actor's enthusiasm for the episode should give viewers a lot of hope that life for Rick and his friends might not be so unrelentingly awful — for a little while at least.