The Walking Dead's Most Terrifying Season Was Gutted by This Creative Mistake

Deleted scenes aren't uncommon with television shows, especially those on cable television. Shows typically need to keep their runtime under a certain number, so naturally, something has to be cut along the way. The Walking Dead was one of many shows to delete scenes and then include them in the DVD box for fans to enjoy. Those who bought the Season 2 DVD set were surprised to learn that the series cut out an entire sequence in the season's first episode.

Most deleted scenes don't drastically change anything about the episode's story, and should only be cut because they don't add anything more to the episode. But in the case of the deleted scenes in Season 2, Episode 1, "What Lies Ahead," there was a big change in Frank Darabont's original script, which was originally titled "Miles Behind Us" after Volume 2 of the comic series. The cast filmed in multiple locations, special effects for the walkers and corpses were already applied, and sequences were edited. So what drove the final decision to slim down the episode and go for a completely different introduction to the season?

Season 2 Deleted Scenes Reveal the Status of the Nursing Home Group

The deleted scenes take place not too long after the explosion at the CDC that left Rick Grimes and his group of survivors stranded in an apocalyptic Atlanta. Shane Walsh is being chased by a group of walkers after one of the tires on his jeep is punctured, and loses the rest of the group in the convoy. After he's rescued, an optimistic Rick decides the group's next destination: the nursing home run by the Vatos gang in the city. Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl previously had a run-in with the gang, believing they were dangerous criminals, but they were actually generous people looking after the elderly left behind at the home.

However, when they arrive at the nursing home, they find something truly deplorable. The Vatos gang and the people were all dead, some of them even turning into walkers. Everyone is horrified, especially the children after they witnessed walkers eating dead bodies and Daryl yelled at a 12-year-old Sophia. Intrestingly, Daryl won back almost everyone's favor when he showed everyone what happened: someone had previously ambushed the community and shot everyone.

This wasn't an act by nature, but an act by humans. It was the first time the majority of the group was confronted with the reality that humanity was heading down a dark path rather quickly. Neil Brown Jr., who played Guillermo in Season 1, hinted that he may return in the Season 2 premiere, and that never came to fruition. But the exclusion of these scenes did leave fans wondering whatever happened to the Vatos gang, since their fate was never confirmed in the final cut of the episode.

Panic Was Truly Setting in as the Group Was Lost

Later on, the group take refuge in the abandoned nursing home despite a potential danger nearby. The pressure was high all around due to the uncertainty of what was next, since each and every plan that Rick came up with ended up falling through. On top of the general anxiety was the trauma certain group members felt from the CDC situation. Andrea grew cynical and isolated herself from the rest of the group, despite Dale's efforts to show her life was worth living.

Glenn was also careless about his words around the children, and Daryl didn't mind yelling at the children for screeching in fear. Rick blamed himself for Jacqui's death, but Shane and Lori assured him that it was her own choice to take her life. Blame in general was spreading like wildfire, though none was justified. Strangely enough, the hopelessness did strike some camaraderie.

Nobody fought over what little food or water they had, with Shane even offering Daryl a drink as gratitude for saving his life. When Lori stepped in to warn Daryl not to go overboard, he didn't argue against her. The survivors knew what was at stake, and they were smart enough to know that picking fights with each other would only put them in more danger. It's an absolutely grim scene that offers no promise of a better future, but at least these people will go down together rather than alone. Of course, future events in the series depict otherwise, but it was a brilliant set-up for the devastating plot twist of Shane betraying Rick.

Why Did The Walking Dead Cut These Scenes?

The deleted sequence ends with the men of the group deciding the journey forward, they would head to the Fort Benning Military Base, where a rumored refugee camp is, and take fewer vehicles on the road to use less gas. As the final cut of the episode suggests, none of this actually occurred. In the opening scene of "What Lies Ahead," the group is still using the same number of vehicles as before and Fort Benning isn't mentioned again until Episode 7, "Pretty Much Dead Already." Rick's group leaves Atlanta without visiting the nursing home and gets blocked on a highway where Sophia goes missing.

There were reports that AMC thought the footage was "unusable" and needed a reason to justify firing Frank Darabont as The Walking Dead's showrunner, as well as condense two episodes into one for budget reasons. Darabont and AMC executives already had disputes for different reasons both parties have publicly given. But even before the nursing home storyline, Darabont had a different concept for the Season 2 premiere, according to actor Sam Witwever and Darabont himself. He wanted to tell the backstory of the tank soldier from the series premiere, "Days Gone Bye." Within the flashback, the soldier would lose his entire team in Atlanta and also integrate the characters of Andrea, Amy and Dale.

"I always had in mind to throw in a “wild-card” episode every season, maybe as a season opener or closer." -- Frank Darabont