The Walking Dead‘s Season 6 finale ended with one heck of a cliffhanger, and some fans aren’t too happy about it. Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, has discussed it before, but now he says he isn’t sorry for the reaction it’s garnered from fans.

In an interview with EW, Kirkman said that although he know there would be a reaction, he and the rest of the production team didn’t quite realize it would be as big as they got.

“We knew that there would be a reaction. We probably didn’t anticipate it would be so big, but cliffhangers are supposed to elicit a reaction,” Kirkman said. “I mean, that’s what they’re designed to do. So, to a certain extent, it did its job. It maybe did its job a little too well, but I think people that have invested in six years of the show may not be happy about that cliffhanger, and I think that’s a completely valid response, and I completely respect their opinion.”

Despite Kirkman’s understanding, he doesn’t regret how they ended the sixth season.

“I’m not sorry that we did it. I don’t regret that we did it, because [executive producer Scott M. Gimple] and I were trying to tell a story, and that’s what we and the entire creative team decided to do,” he added. “But it is what it is. We’re working that much harder to come back for Season 7 and make sure that the payoff is worth the dread of the uncertainty that we’ve given you over the months that we’re on break.”

Unfortunately for fans, no premiere date has been announced for The Walking Dead Season 7, though it’s believed to start this year.