The premiere of 'Ones Who Live' is shocking

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the film's premiere The Walking Dead: Those who live“Years.”

With all the talk about how The Walking Dead: Those who live It was going to be primarily a love story, and I might have been fooled into believing that the newest spinoff in the franchise would be devoid of brutal shockers. These beliefs were dispelled just minutes into the first episode.

The series premiere began by showing Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes working for the Civic Republic Military on a mission to remove flaming walkers. The captive Rick was handcuffed by the wrist to a soldier so that he could not escape, but that soldier did not realize that he was dealing with a man who would literally cut his wrist to set him free – which is exactly what Rick did.

Not only did Rick cut off his left hand – declaring “This is the way it is” before swinging the axe – but he then cauterized the wound in the flames of a dead zombie as he attempted to escape. (Sadly, it was all for nothing as Rick was arrested again. DOH!)

As brutal and shocking as this move was, it actually corrects a huge difference between… the walking Dead The comic book and television adaptation that followed. In the comic book, Rick loses his hand very early on – it was cut off by The Governor (played by David Morrissey on TV) in issue 28 after Rick refused to answer questions during his interrogation. If the show had followed suit, TV Rick would have lost his hand in the third season of the original series.

According to showrunner Scott M. Gimple, the impetus to finally start ripping Rick Grimes limb from limb came from the man he's playing with. “I played around with the idea but didn't stick with it through all kinds of iterations of the story,” Gimple tells EW. “But Andy was the one who pushed it. It was Andy who ran it across the goal line.

The star pleads guilty to the charges, which is no surprise as he has campaigned for a return to the original walking dead. “I bullied everyone into submission,” Lincoln says. “And there were a lot of conversations, particularly with AMC, where people said, 'Now Andy, we love the idea, but would you truly Are you sure about this? But I just thought: This is the right time to do what the comic book did and honor that. “I've been trying to promote this for years, and everyone's been yelling at me.”

And why was it? this Right time to do this? Because fans are well aware of Rick Grimes' “never quit” attitude. “We had to explain why Rick would never come back,” Lincoln says. “This is a man who would do anything to get back, so what more extraordinary act or effort would he put in to try to get back to his lover?”

Cutting your hand seems to fit the bill. That's why they had to address it from the beginning, Gimple explains. “The reason the story begins is because this is Rick Grimes,” the showrunner says. “Then why didn't he run away? This is a guy who will do anything, but what happens when you do anything and you still don't win? And he doesn't give up then!”

walking dead Comic book creator Robert Kirkman later said he regretted cutting off Rick's hand in the comic because it often forced him to write about the injury, but Gimple says the TV version only required a “commitment to figuring it out, whatever problems that might result.” . Ho-Her.” The showrunner also says the original comic book moment was worth every headache it caused Kirkman. “I think it was important as a comic book reader to see it, because it helped set the tone for this world in which these crazy things can happen. ”

This tone has just been set Living.

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