The producer of the successful AMC series was very clear about what the adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comics should be like.
The Walking Dead It became a global phenomenon with a duration of 11 seasons, 177 episodes and 12 years of broadcast. The adaptation of the comics created by Robert Kirkman managed to captivate all fans of post-apocalyptic stories, creating a before and after in the zombie genre on television. What many don’t know is that the series could have been very different if not for one key decision made before its release, one that would completely change its destiny.
Long before fiction reached the small screen, his team signed the production company Gale Anne Hurdwho was known for having worked on classics as Terminator, Terminator: Judgment Day, Aliens, The Return and, if that were not enough, The Incredible Hulk by Edward Norton. Hurd was a safe bet for the creation of The Walking Dead and, shortly after being hired, she showed how much the series needed her.
Hurd had to face a difficult choice: two major television networks, HBO and NBC, were interested in producing it, but they put one important condition on the table. Both channels wanted to reduce the level of violence in their episodes, reducing the violence and gore that stand out in the original comics. The producer was completely blunt with her response, considering that it was a non-negotiable aspect: “No, thank you.”
AMC
‘The Walking Dead’
Thanks to that decision, The Walking Dead ended up on AMC, a network that opted to maintain the rawness of the story. This creative freedom allowed the series to maintain the brutality that fans had come to expect, with iconic scenes like the attack on Terminus. or the heartbreaking deaths of some of its protagonists. Had it accepted NBC or HBO’s conditions, the series would have lost one of its most distinctive elements: the feeling that no one was safe in that post-apocalyptic world. Greg Nicotero, co-executive producer of the fiction, celebrated this victory some time later during an interview with The Huffington Post.
Thank goodness we ended up on AMC. They understand this series perfectly. They have fully trusted us from the beginning and have supported us in what we have tried to do with this series
It is difficult to imagine what this fiction would have been like or Fear The Walking Dead without that violent atmosphere that characterizes it. Of course, the most memorable and shocking episodes would not have existed in their current form, which would have completely changed the course of the series and, possibly, its success. What would the series be without Negan and Lucille?
13 years later, one of the most legendary scenes from ‘The Walking Dead’ is recreated in ‘Daryl Dixon’
This decision has allowed the series to evolve to create several spin-offs as The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon o The Walking Dead: Dead Cityamong others. To this day, we know that Hurd’s “no” was one of the wisest decisions in television history.
