Summary
- Robert Kirkman expresses his discontent for The Walking Dead TV show's new zombie variant, breaking his 'golden rule' for the series.
- Despite supporting past changes, Kirkman seems unsold on the show deviating from original comic lore.
- Zombie upgrades and origin revelations go against Kirkman's vision for The Walking Dead , challenging his core 'golden rules' for the series.
It’s no secret that The Walking Dead television show diverged from the storyline of the original Image Comics series in a great number of ways. However, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has always firmly supported practically every change made on the show thus far, something he’s notably made clear while answering questions from fans in The Walking Dead Deluxe issues. Though it appears Kirkman’s good graces have come to a swift end, as The Walking Dead’s creator doesn’t seem sold on the TV show’s new zombie variant (for one important reason).
In The Walking Dead Deluxe #73 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, readers are shown a full-color version of the original comic, complete with all the drama and zombie-killing action of the black and white version. However, color wasn’t the only addition to this edition, as this issue also contained the aforementioned notes written by Robert Kirkman answering fans’ questions about the series - and one of them was incredibly telling.
One fan sent in a letter asking Kirkman how he felt about The Walking Dead television series introducing zombie variants in the final season, noting that the live-action adaptation seemed to be deviating from Kirkman’s two ‘golden rules’ about The Walking Dead - those being: no variant zombies and no explaining the origin of the Walkers. To that, Kirkman gave a brief yet telling response:
Robert Kirkman: I’m happy to be proven wrong if these things work and end up being cool.
Robert Kirkman Usually Supports the TV Show’s Changes to The Walking Dead - But Not This Time
As previously noted, AMC’s The Walking Dead has made some drastic changes to the series’ lore - from the character development of Carol and the creation of Daryl Dixon, to even killing off Carl - and every time, Robert Kirkman seemed to offer complete and total support for those changes. Kirkman has always maintained that he likes the fact that the TV show is exploring alternate avenues when it comes to the wider storyline and characters of The Walking Dead.
That being said, AMC’s The Walking Dead never tried to change Kirkman’s aforementioned ‘golden rules’ before, and now that it has, it doesn’t seem like Kirkman has much support to offer. Saying that he’d be “happy to be proven wrong” implies that he does not agree with changing one of his two ‘golden rules’ - indeed, Kirkman made the rules for a reason.
Zombie Variants Isn’t the Only ‘Golden Rule’ AMC’s The Walking Dead Seems to be Breaking
The future of The Walking Dead series will likely unravel the mystery of the Walkers’ origin!
The fan who asked Kirkman how he felt about AMC’s The Walking Dead breaking his ‘no variants’ rule also touched on how it seems the many spin-off/continuation series will explore the origin of the Walkers. Kirkman’s answer to the first question also applied to the second, as even that’s something he’d be “happy to be proven wrong” by. But, again, that answer only confirms his discontent with the TV show breaking those ‘golden rules’ in the first place.
Robert Kirkman has always maintained that The Walking Dead wouldn’t be as cool if the zombies kept getting upgrades throughout, and he also never wanted to reveal the origin of the Walkers, as he believed most of the fun of zombie stories is the mystery of how the zombies came to be in the first place.
Unfortunately, no matter how important they are to him, Robert Kirkman’s ‘golden rules’ are not being applied to the live-action series, and The Walking Dead’s creator still isn’t sold on those changes, despite supporting nearly every other one in the past.
