The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has revealed the major character that he wanted to kill off early in the series.
Speaking at a panel during San Diego Comic-Con, Kirkman told the audience that he had considered killing off Rick Grimes early on in the series in order to deviate from source material.
“With Walking Dead, I was much younger and much more reckless,” he explained.
“I was an absolute lunatic. I would get in the writers’ room and be like, ‘Kill Rick Grimes today! I don’t care! It’ll be funny! People will freak out, and it’ll be fun!’ The writers were like, ‘Robert, you’re crazy. We can’t do that’.
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“But any time there were big changes in The Walking Dead, that’s what excited me.”
Contrary to Kirkman’s original plans, Rick Grimes wasn’t killed off during TWD’s early episodes and instead went on to appear in nine seasons of the zombie apocalypse series.
Andrew Lincoln will also be reprising his role as Rick in the upcoming spin-off series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live alongside Michonne (Danai Gurira).
A 30-second teaser for the upcoming series, set to be released in 2024, sees Michonne determined to reunite with Rick following his abduction by the CRM group during the events of the main series.
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Kirkman recently opened up on Rick’s life prior to the apocalypse, following fan questions.
The creator disagreed with fan theories that Rick had the potential to be a hardened nomad in his old life, writing: “The potential was obviously there, but I don’t think it existed until it needed to.”
The Walking Dead aired on AMC in the US and STAR on Disney+ in the UK. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will air on AMC in the US in 2024. A UK broadcaster has yet to be confirmed.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Brenna Cooper is a freelance journalist, who currently specialises in entertainment reporting. She joined Digital Spy in 2022, writing TV and movies stories for the site. After graduating with an NCTJ accredited Journalism Masters from the University of Sheffield in 2020 she has since embarked on a freelance career.
Brenna previously produced lifestyle content for Checklists.co.uk and has a specific interest in music, reviewing live acts and interviewing bands such as Confidence Man and Amyl and the Sniffers.
