Alanna Masterson Talks ‘The Walking Dead’

On Sunday night, “The Walking Dead” Season 6 finale arrives.

After a lengthy lead-in, the finale will finally introduce Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Lucille-toting (the name of his bat) villain Negan.

His group was responsible for the death of Tara’s girlfriend, Dr. Denise Cloyd (Merritt Wever). Alanna Masterson’s character hasn’t found out the news that she’s lost another loved one – something viewers are still waiting to see her reaction to on the show. 

READ: ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6 Finale Is ‘A Gut Punch,’ Says EP Robert Kirkman

“It should be an interesting story how it plays out, or maybe the loss of her — more loss — will just break her. I’m not sure,” Alanna told Access when we spoke to her this week.

While she wasn’t able to tell us exactly how that story line will look, Access Hollywood did get some hints about Sunday’s big episode when we spoke to the actress.

PHOTOS: ‘The Walking Dead’: Characters Who’ve Died On The Show

AccessHollywood.com: I ran into [executive producers] Robert Kirkman and David Alpert at the ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ event in LA [earlier this week] and I asked them about the finale and Robert said it was like a ‘gut punch,’ and [I asked David how we] should prepare for it, and he said, with ’tissues and diapers.’ What are your thoughts on it now knowing what they’ve said?
Alanna Masterson: I’ll prepare with diapers, just because I have a lot of those, but yeah, that’s pretty accurate (laughs). 

Access: What was your reaction when you read the script for the Season 6 finale?
Alanna: It’s so hard to say in these interviews because it’s so hard to say anything. … When I read it, I was obviously amazed by the storytelling, but it’s also — this is an apocalypse and this is the world we live in and crazy things happen and we have to be prepared for them. 

Access: Are your friends bugging you about this particular episode? I know a lot of people are really excited to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan come into the show. What’s the chatter around you, personally?
Alanna: Yeah, I think a lot of people are super excited for Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He’s such a good actor. I think whatever character he would have played on this show would have been amazing, whether it was someone favorable or not, or a Hershel [type] character or anything. He can really play any role. I think people are just excited to see what happens. The show’s been on for six years, so it’s like, what is this world going to become? What is going to happen? Now that we’re down to just killing humans, what’s going to happen? How is this group going to survive? Is it going to crush them? Is it going to make them stronger? Are you going to be able to live with the choices that you’ve made? It’s exciting. It’s really exciting. People want to know. 

Access: We haven’t gotten to see Tara’s reaction to Denise’s death, but do you think your character can handle any more pain? She has been through the wringer. She lost her family, she lost her girlfriend, she’s constantly losing people.
Alanna: Yeah, I mean it should be an interesting story how it plays out, or maybe the loss of her, more loss will just break her. I’m not sure. 

Access: Did you get to do one of those ‘death dinners’ with Merritt at all? It was interesting. I read an interview with her where she said your two characters were a couple, but they didn’t have a ton of on screen time, which is a really good observation.
Alanna: Yeah, I mean, that’s pretty accurate (laughs). … We said goodbye in our own way and she’s an amazing actor and an incredible person and she’ll be a friend of mine forever, so I’m just excited that I got to work with such a talent and it was hard to say goodbye to her — it’s hard to say goodbye to anybody, even if you only work with them twice. You’re secluded and isolated down in Georgia and those people become your family. 

Access: Had you been watching ‘Nurse Jackie’? 
Alanna: I watched a couple of episodes. She’s incredible. She’s just so natural and she’s so great. I love her. 

Access: What did you think about [Denise’s] exit [on ‘The Walking Dead’]? Obviously you knew it was coming because you’re on the show, but I’m just curious about your thoughts on that one.
Alanna: No one really saw it coming. It was pretty brutal. I loved it. She’s just so talented. … How she was delivering that speech and then it just happened — I think it really shocked a lot of people.

Access: [‘The Walking Dead’ is one of the casts I hear really good things about.] Have you ever had a more welcoming or friendly experience than the one you have now on your show?
Alanna: Not anything that I’ve been on, but I experienced the same sort of camaraderie on my brothers’ [Chris and Danny Masterson] shows because I was always there. Going to ‘That ’70s Show’ and ‘Malcolm In The Middle,’ they were all like family — all of them.  [They] all respected each other, all hung out together. That’s the only place I’ve ever really experienced it and then I was lucky enough to experience it for myself by joining this show. Everyone says it. I don’t know how they pick the cast, because as actor when you go in an audition, you don’t have a conversation with [showrunner] Scott Gimple, and he doesn’t ask if you get along with others. They don’t know how we are. They don’t know how we work with other people, but for some reason, each person that they pick just fits in. I think that’s why the show is the biggest show on television is because there’s just this dynamic with the group that is unbreakable. It’s pretty great. 

“The Walking Dead” Season 6 finale airs Sunday night at 9 PM ET/PT on AMC.

— Jolie Lash