11 details you may have missed on Sunday's scary 'The Walking Dead'

Ridloff revealed the name of the group to us first while discussing Sunday's episode. Episode director and executive producer, Greg Nicotero, first texted her about the group and Ridloff was also caught off guard. 

"He's like, 'Yeah, you're going to be working with the Ferals.' I was like, 'Wait. Who are the Ferals? What is a Feral?' Ridloff told Insider.

Behind the scenes, the writers were tossing around ideas for the Ferals in this episode since early 2020.

On aftershow "Talking Dead," episode writer Kevin Deiboldt described them as people who started to slowly become more animalistic during the apocalypse if they lost their sense of self and you "take that to the nth degree."

"In the backstory of it, we actually do think that those are pictures of relatives or even some of the people who became Ferals and are living in that house," showrunner Angela Kang said in a bonus feature on AMC+.

"As they sort of descended into a much more feral state, they just started destroying vestiges of their humanity," said Kang of why they scratched the eyes out.

Kang also said they just thought it was just a creepy addition to their haunted house.

Kelly quickly flips through Connie's notebook, which references a conversation between Virgil and Connie regarding Michonnne. 

If you were straining trying to read it, Virgil tells Connie he was with Michonne, a callback to Michonne's final appearance on "TWD" on season 10, episode 13. The audience knows that Michonne went off in search of her partner, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), after finding his abandoned cowboy boots with Virgil.

Connie tries to learn where she is, but Virgil simply says, "Don't know. She left to look for someone. Was hoping to see her." It sounds like he was hoping to find her at Oceanside.

Virgil better stay alive. He could be the key to others learning that Michonne is searching for Rick.

"We wanted to pay tribute and infuse this episode with all the classic horror we could," Deiboldt shared on Twitter. 

That started with a reference to George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead."

"Might as well start with Connie and Virgil on the run, taking shelter in an old, abandoned house!" Deiboldt added.

In the 1968 film, Barbra seeks shelter in a farmhouse. 

Another nod to the film comes when Connie peeks out of the house.

At one point, Virgil stabs his knife through a wall, scaring Connie.

When a fan asked episode writer Kevin Deiboldt if that scene was a nod to the famous, "Here's Johnny!", scene in "The Shining," he said it was "definitely in the mix."

Before we actually started shooting, I had a conversation with [director] Greg [Nicotero] about certain elements," Ridloff told Insider.

"For example... Connie walks down the hall and she just walks through the center of the hall," Ridloff said, adding that she pointed out, "There's no way that a deaf person would ever do that in that situation because when you're walking down the hall, she has no idea what's happening behind her."

Ridloff suggested pushing up against the wall instead, which is seen in the final episode.

"They definitely checked in with me repeatedly just to make sure that I could actually feel the vibrations of the Ferals approaching, running down the hall," Ridloff said. "Greg definitely worked very hard to make sure that it was a collaborative process to make sure that it was an authentic representation... And I think that's what made it even more scary."

"You got what? 20 people in your town," Daryl says. "You got weapons. You got walls. You'd see them coming from a mile away. Trust me they ran."

Carver asked if there was a point to Daryl saying of that info out loud. There sure was. 

You may have thought Daryl was just trying to kill time with that rant, but he purposefully tells Maggie crucial bits of information about the Reapers that they can use, including how many people are in their group.

While checking for Maggie's group, the Reapers (and Daryl) use the word to announce they've checked — and cleared — a room.

Though it's not a direct nod, if you're a "TWD" fan, it's difficult to hear that word and not instantly think of season three, episode 12, "Clear," and think of Morgan Jones (Lennie James). 

After losing his son and wife, Morgan was obsessed with clearing walkers as a sort of punishment for not being able to save his family from their fate. The word is written all over his hideout when Rick (Andrew Lincoln) finds him.

Sunday's big reunion wasn't just a big moment for the on-screen siblings. It was also the first time Ridloff and Angel Theory saw each other in person since before the pandemic began.

"When we finally shot that scene, what you actually see on screen is real," Ridloff told Insider of seeing Angel Theory for the first time.

"Those were real tears. It was that sense of relief that we're both back together," Ridloff added. "We survived the pandemic and now here we are. We're still surviving in this apocalypse. I think it was really a nice parallel."

I can't believe it! Listen, I was glad that Virgil showed up again, much less made it through this episode," Kevin Carroll told Insider of surviving multiple stab wounds in the back. 

Interestingly enough, the writers did consider killing off Virgil at one point.

On Twitter, Deiboldt shared a handwritten story plan from early 2020 (yeah, they were planning this out for a while). In it, there are two scrawled out notes which mention that Virgil was "seriously bit" by the undead.

This would've happened at the episode's start, presumably when Connie and Virgil were escaping their overrun campsite. 

When Daryl and Leah return back to the Reaper's home, Meridian, Pope announces that he killed Frost and got what he needed out of him, something that seems to trouble Daryl. Pope then pulls aside Carver — the Reaper who doesn't like Daryl — and whispers something to him.

Logic suggests Frost spilled the beans about Daryl's loyalty before he died. Pope may secretly know Daryl is playing both sides. However, Kang suggests that may not be the case.

"Him going off and talking and laughing with Carver is completely designed to create paranoia in Leah and in Daryl," Kang said on AMC+'s bonus feature.