Robert Kirkman, the executive producer behind The Walking Dead reveals his biggest regret.
Robert Kirkman is listed as The Hollywood Reporter’s most powerful comic writers in the world but, the executive producer behind the most-watched show on television revealed that he has a huge regret.
“If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have done the CDC episode [at the end of season one],” Kirkman told THR of the episode in which CDC doc Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich) reveals to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) that everyone is already infected.
You heard right, Robert Kirkman revealed that he hated the CDC episode. In the episode, the crew travel to the CDC, the Center of Diesease Control to see if there is a cure to the zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately for the gang, many of the CDC workers left to be with their families. When the Military protection of the CDC was overrun, many of the remaining doctors ran away. The remaining doctors at the CDC eventually committed suicide until only a handful of scientists remained. The gang meets Dr. Candace Jenner. Dr. Jenner was a scientists working with samples in order to find a cure. After constantly searching for a cure. Dr. Jenner reveals his findings about the disease and explains that everyone is infected. At the end of the episode, Dr. Jenner blows the entire facility up.
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Robert Kirkman revealed that the scene was a huge mistake because “”It possibly gave away too much information and was such a big change very early on in the series,” Kirkman said.
According to the comics, Rick and the crew learn that everyone is infected after Tyreese’s daughter, Julie, is killed in what was supposed to be a joint suicide agreement with her boyfriend Chris.
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Another issue with the episode that Robert Kirkman revealed was revealing that the French could have a cure to the disease.
“I probably would have changed that stuff,” he says. “I’ve been careful in the comic series to not say what’s happening in other parts of the world. It’s something that’s going to be fun to explore in the spinoff series. But the fact that France is mentioned in that episode and other things like that, I probably would have steered away from that stuff if I had to do it all over again.” [via]
As for the Walking Dead companion series, several casting calls were released for leading roles in the production but, other than that little is known. Rumors speculate that this is going to be prequel and center around the early days of the outbreak in other parts of the world. Casting is underway for the pilot, which AMC plans to premiere in 2015.
The producer behind The Walking Dead is currently changing the comic-book storyline. One of the biggest changes is Norman Reedus’ character, Daryl Dixon who is not in the comics at all.
Kirkman argues that Daryl stands out as one of the best changes to The Walking Dead storyline. In addition, Robert Kirkman explained that he loves Melissa McBride’s acting for bring Carol to life on the TV series.
“Carol was extremely different in the comic and I was attempting to tell a completely different story with that character than what we ended up doing on the show,” he says. “Carol in the comic and Carol on the show couldn’t be more different. I’m really proud of the evolution that that character has gone through. It’s one of the best parts of the show. Melissa McBride’s performance is absolutely amazing. More than any other character, Carol has evolved in leaps and bounds. You go back to the first season and it’s almost like a different actress is playing that character because she’s so different. It’s been a really remarkable transformation in a show about transformation. That’s been a great and welcome change.” [via]
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The Walking Dead’s midseason finale is expected to air on Sunday at 9 p.m. Filming has just completed in Atlanta, Georgia with production expected to return in 2015. If you are interested in learning how to become a zombie on The Walking Dead, check out our guide here.
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