Stars weigh in on pros/cons of epic ‘Walking Dead’, ‘GoT’-style cliffhangers

TORONTO – Depending on whom you ask, a suspenseful cliffhanger ending is either the pinnacle of great TV, or a frustrating, manipulative scourge that needs to be stamped out.

The Canadian Press spoke with actors, writers and showrunners about their thoughts on how best to end a season:

“Damien” showrunner Glen Mazzara, who acted as an executive producer of “The Walking Dead” for the 29 episodes of seasons two and three:

“If you go off on a cliffhanger where you’re cutting to black or it’s a whodunnit or something like that, I personally don’t enjoy those stories and I don’t think it’s a fair thing to do to the audience sometimes, for a long period of time,” said Mazzara.

“They can tolerate it for a few weeks but once you start pushing into months or a year, I think that’s a lot to expect from your audience.”

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“Arrow” star Stephen Amell:

“If it’s just a cliffhanger for the sake of being a cliffhanger, then there’s no inherent value to it. But if it’s set up and properly executed, I think cliffhangers are fantastic.”

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Joel McHale, star of the upcoming series “The Great Indoors”:

“I like cliffhangers if they’re well paid off; I don’t like them if they’re not. If you keep writing cheques that you can’t cash, then I just tune out. That happened with ‘Lost’ for me.”

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Mandy Patinkin of “Homeland”:

“If it makes you tune in next week or next year, I think that’s a good thing. Because all of us do this work that we do in the arts not for ourselves — although we do enjoy it — but we do it for you, the audience.

“And if you don’t come and sit in the seats and watch it on your phone or your television or (at) your movie theatre or your theatre, then it’s all for nothing.”

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“Breaking Bad” writer Moira Walley-Beckett:

“As annoying as it is to wait … the reason you’re annoyed is because you want the next episode, right?”

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“Chicago Fire” star David Eigenberg says cliffhangers can be tough on the actors as well:

“It’s not good for us, if you’re going into a (contract) negotiation year. Because if you negotiate too hard, then you come back and they go, ‘Well, yeah, Herman steps on the stairs carrying a tray of coffee — one coffee slips, makes the step wet, he slips and falls and breaks his neck and he’s dead.’”