Title: The Walking Dead: Why Rick Grimes Didn’t Lose a Hand in the TV Series
Content:
Andrew Lincoln and the Missing Hand
While Andrew Lincoln was devoted to chopping one of Rick’s hands off to keep proper continuity with the comic series, the man who created Rick Grimes admitted he had some regrets about the creative choice he made. Robert Kirkman — creator of the “The Walking Dead” comic book series — admits he wishes he didn’t. He also admitted at a panel during 2011’s San Diego Comic-Con that he was strongly opposed to Rick’s losing a hand on the series.
Kirkman’s Creative Regrets
Robert Kirkman shared his creative process, saying, “When I’m writing a comic book, I don’t think about what I’m doing. I go, ‘Oh, it’d be pretty cool if they cut his hand off right now. That’d be pretty shocking, right?’. Then I do it, and five issues later, I write ‘Rick opens a can of beans’ and then I look at the script and think ‘He can’t do that now’. I didn’t even think that through,” explaining why he didn’t want that frustration to continue along into the live-action drama.
Divergence from the Comic Book Plot
In the comic book series, Rick’s hand is chopped off after he refuses to give The Governor the information he seeks. Had the show followed the comic book storyline, he would have lost his limb somewhere around Season 3. Then again, if the show was 100% faithful to the comic book series, Rick would be dead; he loses his life at the tail end of the first run. Fans will have to keep their eyes on “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” to find out if he cheats the Grim Reaper one more time.