Yahoo News TWD boss "argued" with Robert Kirkman over show changes
The Walking Dead fans in recent seasons have been critical of the show, throwing much of the blame on former showrunner Scott Gimple.
The backlash against Gimple was so great, there was a petition that went viral, calling for him to be axed by AMC after Carl Grimes' was revealed to have been bitten (at the time, actor Chandler Riggs said he had no plans to quit). Carl, of course, is still alive in the comics.
So it may be surprising to hear that Gimple actually wanted to stick closer to the source material (at first), and that it was comics creator Robert Kirkman who often pushed for the changes.
"Back when we started, Robert and I argued a lot because I wanted to do the book just as the book and he actually wanted to do changes because he had already done it," Gimple said at an AMC panel (via Insider). "And, yeah, I wanted to see those moments that I saw in the book."
Gimple then justified the deviations from the comics, claiming that as time went on, giving "little twists" to the story enhances the viewing experience.
"As I worked more and more on it, because I was so familiar with those moments, I knew that making those little twists to give the reader – it's actually doing right by the people who read the book and know what's coming.
"You try to put them in a place where they don't know what's coming, which is what reading the book is like."
Gimple added: "To do right by the moments you've seen, sometimes you have to remix them because people like myself who are familiar with the work know what's coming.
"To do right by the book, to tell the book with absolute fidelity sometimes, you have to change it."
The upcoming ninth season will diverge from the comics even more, with Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Lauren Cohan (Maggie Rhee) said to be leaving the show and talk of Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) being lined up as the new lead.
At least there'll be a time jump, though, like in the comics.
The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US, and on FOX and Now TV in the UK.
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