In an interview in December 2024 with ColliderKirkman praised the original “Walking Dead” showrunner Frank Darabont with the creation of the series. According to Kirkman, Darabont was stumbled across the “Walking Dead” comic in the House of Secrets (a comic shop in Burank, California, California and thought that the serialized drama was a perfect story to watch. Remembered Variety in 2016:
“What has put on me about (Robert Kirkmans) Comic series is that it is a story about characters on a journey into this new world and is constantly trying not only to survive, but what is important for them.”
But as passionate as Darabont and Co. They still had problems convincing television stations. Darabont brought the series to NBC because he had a contract with the network at that time. However, the problems with the material extended beyond violence. An NBC manager believed that “Walking Dead” comics should be adapted as police processes in which Sheriff Rick Grimes and a partner would apparently solve zombie-related crimes every week. Another asked: “Do there have to be zombies?”
Despite her reservations about violence, HBO was apparently more interested. Kirkman claimed Collider that in the end there was a “bidding war” between AMC and HBO for “The Walking Dead”. (We all know who won.) Here is how Kirkman puts it:
“AMC and HBO somehow in a competition from ‘We indicate Robert.’ “No, we will give Robert that.” “
However, HBO still impressed “The Walking Dead” indirectly. Darabont’s first choice to play Rick was not Andrew Lincoln, but Thomas Jane. ((Darabont had worked with Jane on “The Mist”.) But Jane had to happen because he had already registered as a lead in “Hung”, an HBO-produced comedy series about a high school teacher that becomes a sex worker. (It took three seasons.)
If HBO had won the “Walking Dead” bidder War, one, one large The difference that comes to mind is the dialogue. HBO, which is disoriented by the FCC rules for public broadcasting, can let his characters swear a storm with the seven dirty words. This means that Negan would have been able to swear in the comic. AMC let “The Walking Dead” get away with ultraviolence, but as a Broadcast network, his hands were connected to the curse.
