Developed by Frank Darabont, who was also the showrunner on the first season, The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic zombie series. It is based on the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The show started in 2010, with an ensemble cast of Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Steven Yeun, among others, and ran for 11 seasons, concluding in 2022.
The show premiered on AMC, and continued there for its entirety. It even spawned a few spin-off shows like Fear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead, and more. But did you know, that before AMC grabbed the show by the horn, producer Gale Hurd had initially gone to other networks to have it made?
HBO Wanted The Walking Dead to Tone Down The Violence
When Gale Hurd, the producer of The Walking Dead was shopping for networks to bring Robert Kirkman’s vision to life, she went to the like of HBO and Universal, before finally reaching the doors of AMC. And thankfully she did, because the initial networks wanted to tone down the violence and gore, which, to be honest, makes the show what it is. Both HBO and Universal asked the producer, and developer, Frank Darabont, to keep the gore to a minimum.
But neither Darabont, nor Hurd, were willing to do that, as it digressed from Kirkman’s vision. Thankfully, they refused, and made their way to AMC, where the show found a safe place to bring to life the story that was weaved in the comics. According to Huffpost, Gale Hurd said: “No, thank you,” and walked out the door.
AMC Was The Best Possible Solution to The Walking Dead Problem
For a horror show about zombies in a post-apocalyptic world, if the violence and gore, which makes the show’s core, is toned down to keep in line with some preconceived idea on what the audiences like, then a show like The Walking Dead would never exist. Thankfully, AMC had no such qualms. Make-up artist, Greg Nicotero, who is also a co-executive producer of the AMC show, told Huffpost:
“Thank goodness we wound up at AMC. They totally get this show. Right from the beginning, they’ve been completely trusting and supportive of what we’ve been trying to do with this series.”
The show went on to become a massive success, spawning a whole franchise, worn comic books, TV shows, and even video games to its name.
The Walking Dead is available for streaming on Netflix.
