AMC's The Walking Dead has become a staple of Sunday television, endlessly shocking and
delighting fans with its gory action and non-stop drama.
The grim apocalyptic series has gotten increasingly violent over the years, to the point that
some fans have even called it quits because of the alarming brutality, while others have
become irked by some key changes from the original comic's scenes.
But even those who've stuck around from the start still might be surprised to find out
these facts about the series.
From on-set hijinks to spoiler maintenance problems, here's what you may not know about
The Walking Dead...
Taking the lead
In a major case of Hollywood sliding doors, Andrew Lincoln almost wasn't cast as Sheriff
Rick Grimes because he'd accepted a role in another film at the time.
But life got in the way: his second child was born shortly before the film was expected
to commence production, so Lincoln decided against shooting it after all.
He told The Hollywood Reporter, "I got a friend to replace me in this movie and the next day,
this script came through from AMC.
I must have been on their radar with Frank [Darabont], and he wanted me to test.
It was incredible."
What got him to agree to take the audition to begin with, he later revealed, was the
fact that executive producer and show co-creator Frank Darabont was involved.
He believed that meant the show could have a real future that made moving his growing
family worth it.
As he told Rolling Stone, "Frank talked us into getting on that plane."
SWAT team swarm
During production on the second episode of the inaugural season, The Walking Dead's cast
and crew got an unexpected set of visitors: a SWAT team.
Mearle actor Michael Rooker was on a rooftop shooting his rifle to simulate a zombie sniper
session, but onlookers mistook his behavior for the real deal — and called in the cops.
"I saw people jump and run.
They had already dispatched the SWAT team.
The officer said, 'Please, stand down.'"
It wasn't the last time a false alarm would ring regarding the show.
In 2016, a Great Falls, Montana, family found themselves swarmed by police after neighbors
called in a possible domestic violence incident involving guns inside their home … because
they were watching the show loud enough for neighbors to think a big shootout was going
down.
Pulling pranks
For a show with such grisly material as The Walking Dead, its stars sure know how to have
fun when the cameras aren't rolling.
Actor Norman Reedus in particular has a long-running history of pranking Andrew Lincoln and others
during production.
Some of his greatest hits from the thick history book of their prank wars include Reedus filling
Lincoln's car vents with glitter so that it exploded all over him as soon as he cranked
the A/C. Then there was the time he taught Lincoln to greet Japanese fans with the phrase
"where's the toilet" when he wanted to say "thank you for allowing me to be here."
Lincoln's been known to get him back on occasion, too, like when he put Reedus' treasured motorcycle
on a boat with a sex doll and sent it sailing to the middle of a lake.
But the best is when he gets more precise forms of payback.
"Believe me, this is the end.”
AMC Easter eggs
The Walking Dead is an Easter egg lover's dream, because the show is filled with hidden
tributes to the original comics, other zombie epics, and plenty more.
AMC's sister hit Breaking Bad received some of the most clever winks and references.
For instance, there was the Heisenberg-blue meth that appeared in a bag of drugs shown
in the second season.
And let's not forget when Daryl Dixon basically described his brother's dealer — and Jesse
Pinkman fit the description to a tee.
"Merle had this dealer.
This janky little white guy.
He says ‘I'm gonna kill you bitch.’”
The connections have been significant enough to even inspire some theorists to connect
the timelines of the two shows and posit a cause-and-effect relationship between Walter
White's chemical concoction and the onset of the zombie plague.
"Yeah Mr. White.
Yeah science!"
Hey, anything's possible!
The Walking Dead has still yet to explain where and why the walker infection happened.
Irking the neighbors
You might think living in a small town where one of TV's biggest hits is made would be
a treat.
But for some residents of Senoia, Georgia, the experience of becoming a mini-Hollywood
has been unpleasant at times.
As reported by ABC News, some of Senoia's natives have been annoyed by being asked to
change their activities in their hometown as a result of its proximity to the set — from
taking pictures to trimming trees, show officials have stepped in to moderate what would otherwise
be considered pretty ordinary behaviors.
"And they come out of there sayin’ I need to stop, they’re filming.
Uh, I said ‘Well no, you just carry your happy butt right behind the wall.’”
Set attention has also spawned an army of "Walker Stalkers" — that is, fans who case
the town in hopes of catching a glimpse — which is both a business boon and a headache for
locals, especially when explosive scenes are being shot nearby one of the neighborhoods.
To compensate for the troubles, though, some families are paid a monthly stipend of $400,
and others have received in-person thanks from some of the cast.
Earning outrage
While plenty of devastating character deaths have happened on The Walking Dead over the
years, one killing in particular had commentators in a tizzy.
In the sixth season, Merritt Wever's Dr. Denise Cloyd was killed off.
And it wasn't just the fact that she died in a way that, in the comics, happened to
Abraham.
Instead, it was the fact that her death added to a growing trend of that season in which
lesbian characters were routinely and unceremoniously executed on various shows.
The show was immediately panned after the episode aired for playing into the "bury your
gays" trope that seemed to be so common in mainstream television in 2016.
Of the controversy, Wever herself told The Daily Beast, "I hadn't thought about it that
way.
… I'm not sure that that's what was going on here but I understand the sentiment very
well."
Avoiding the amputation
One of the most glaring omissions from The Walking Dead's transformation from book to
screen has been the fact that Rick's still got both of his hands.
In the comics, The Governor cuts off Rick's right hand — his shooter side, no less.
So when the Governor arrived on-screen in the third season, many readers were braced
for the inevitable.
But it never happened.
There have been a couple minor winks to the event, like Merle — a character unique to
the show — having to cut off his own hand to escape being handcuffed to a rooftop.
And then there was the time the villainous Negan threatened to cut off Carl's hand in
the seventh season.
But Rick's still working with two fully functional fists.
So what gives?
In his Reddit AMA series, the comic book's co-creator Robert Kirkman explained the decision
as a matter of practicality, and the simple of filming a TV show: saying:
"To clarify, I think cutting Rick's hand [off] when we did was GREAT for the comic.
It's just that in another medium it would be harder to pull off, we cheat in the comic
because things aren't moving.
You can't do that on the show.
You'd see Rick not being able to reload his gun, and things like that.
The CGI of cutting off Rick's hand would be expensive, but we did it with Hershel's leg
so if we felt strongly about Rick losing a hand, we'd do it."
Optimistic end game
The show may have diverged from writer Robert Kirkman's ongoing comic series in some significant
ways, but he still has a lot of creative influence on The Walking Dead production.
According to him, fans can expect the ending to both versions to be hopeful.
He said, "It's a very popular show, and [the executives at AMC] seem to want it to go for
50 seasons.
And it may go for 50 seasons, but there is definitely an end point at some point…
I see the story from beginning to end, over many, many years, so I think it's a very hopeful
story about humanity overcoming this insurmountable, apocalyptic situation.
… It's just gonna take them a long time to do it."
But until then,we'll all just enjoy the grim ride.
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