Scott Gimple wanted to be more faithful to The Walking Dead comics

Scott Gimple’s reign as The Walking Dead showrunner was controversial, to say the least.

One of his biggest criticisms has been his departures from The Walking Dead comics but according to Gimple that wasn’t always his intention.

When Gimple took over as showrunner in season 4, he initially wanted the show to be more faithful to the comics.  Surprisingly, it was the comic series creator, Robert Kirkman of all people who talked him out of it.

More from AMC

• The Walking Dead Universe receives 3 Saturn Awards nominations
• Creepshow season 4, episode 4 recap: “Meet the Belaskos” and “Cheat Code”
• Fear the Walking Dead makes TVLine’s 10 Worst Shows of 2023 List
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Danai Gurira stuns at this year’s Academy Museum Gala
• Let’s discuss The Walking Dead: Dead City location change rumor

"“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. And, yeah, I wanted to see those moments that I saw in the book. And yet, 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.”"

As questionable as some of Gimple’s decisions have been, his run did show he had at least some reverence to the source material.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the show’s death scenes.  While some characters were changed, Gimple had shown real attention to detail in recreating some of the comic’s memorable death scenes.

There was Tyrese’s brutal decapitation death at the hands of the Governor, though the series transferred that over to Hershel.

Then there was the recreation of Dale’s death in season 5, though that moment was instead given to Bob.  To be fair, Dale was already been killed off long ago, so that character transfer wasn’t exactly his fault.

Then, of course, there was Glenn’s memorable death by Negan, though Abraham’s death was thrown into the mix for misdirection.

Caring about the source material was never Gimple’s big problem.  His big problem towards the end was wanting to make significant moments from the show into “events.”

The most obvious example, of course, was The Walking Dead’s season 7 premiere.  Fans speculated for months at who Negan would execute only for them to kill off Glenn like in the comics.  Ironically, deviating from the comics here, probably would’ve served Gimple better in the long run.

Next: Fear The Walking Dead Season 4: The positives and negatives

Gimple kept that approach going even at the end of his run.  The season 8 finale was given a theatrical release, even as fan interest in the show continued to wane.

Do you believe Gimple’s claims of wanting to be more faithful to The Walking Dead comics?  Give us your thoughts in the comment section.

Source: AMC Summit 2018 via Syfy Wire