EW: Yeah, I know you guys originally shot a much different version of this whole scene. Walk me through how it was originally shot.
ROBERTS: Originally, the beating scene that started the episode wasnt there. Originally, I showed up and was led into the room where Andrea was and I took the tools out the instruments of torture that were laid on the table and then he shot me in the stomach, completely unexpectedly. And then I was left to bleed out in the same idea basically youre going to kill her now. There was a lot more of Milton trying to open the door and him trying to free her from the chains. And then there was a section where he was going to wrap the chain around the neck and try to choke her to death before he turned so she wouldnt have to deal with Walker Milton, or Biter Milton, as it were.
And then at the end of that, it was just Tyreese and someone else who found her. Rick and Daryl and Michonne werent there. So it was essentially the same idea, except you saw me taking chunks out of Laurie Holden in that version. And then they called us back a few months later to reshoot it and made all those changes. So now youre not sure if Ive gotten her until after that door opens, and I think thats probably why they did it.
EW: So they actually shot the scene of you as a zombie biting into her?
ROBERTS: Yeah. Its funny, in the articles and on Talking Dead last night, youll notice stills of Milton where he has glasses on [Ed Note: See picture above!]. They are from the scenes that we shot and werent aired. Because Milton gets his glasses knocked off and never has glasses in the interrogation scene in this finale. But Ive seen a lot of pictures where Milton has blood on his mouth and glasses on that were from that first shooting.
EW: So tell me about the part where you were trying to strangle her.
ROBERTS: They both desperately wanted for that to work but at that point he had bled out so much. So he pulls and pulls and pulls but he doesnt get it done and he falls against the wall and is passed out. And he never comes back from that until he turns into a walker.
EW: When you came back to do the reshoot, was that after Glen Mazzara had moved off the show?
ROBERTS: Yes, it was after he and AMC had decided to part, but he was still theoretically in charge of the back half of the season. I didnt see him there. I dont know if we was in L.A. pulling those strings. Scott Gimple, who ended up taking the showrunner position, was there, so some of those changes may have come from him.
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