The Walking Dead: 14 Things From The Comics Too Graphic For TV

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• The Walking Dead ended its TV run on November 20, 2022, and things differed greatly from the comics. One of the big reasons for the differences from the comics was that different people survived in the two mediums. However, another big reason for certain changes was that the AMC TV show, as graphic as it is at times, is nowhere near as gruesome and graphic as the comics by Robert Kirkman. Since The Walking Dead was an adult comic book, and thanks to its black and white print, there were moments in the books that bordered on grotesque. Many of these moments never could have made it on TV, and thankfully, AMC found a way to tell the story in a better way in the end.

The following contains discussions of suicide and sexual assault.

With the eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead airing on November 20, 2022, fans are wondering what could happen in these last episodes of the long-running series. Will it follow the same shocking end as the comic books, or will it continue diverging from the source material and have a completely unique ending?

The TV show has been notorious for deviating from Robert Kirkman’s original graphic novels. Despite many fans’ protestations, the show continues to be popular and maintains a dedicated fan following. While there are countless events, character deaths, and character arcs that were changed in The Walking Dead, Despite the changes, the live-action show has been exceedingly successful over the years.

UPDATE: 2022/11/23 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS

The Walking Dead ended its TV run on November 20, 2022, and things differed greatly from the comics. One of the big reasons for the differences from the comics was that different people survived in the two mediums. However, another big reason for certain changes was that the AMC TV show, as graphic as it is at times, is nowhere near as gruesome and graphic as the comics by Robert Kirkman. Since The Walking Dead was an adult comic book, and thanks to its black and white print, there were moments in the books that bordered on grotesque. Many of these moments never could have made it on TV, and thankfully, AMC found a way to tell the story in a better way in the end.

Rick Mutilates The Hunters

One important thing that The Walking Dead TV show worked hard to do was to keep Rick Grimes as a relatively pure hero. Yes, before he left the show, Rick became more violent and would kill someone a lot quicker than in the past. However, he would never brutally torture anyone. In The Walking Dead comics, he reached that point in the middle of his journey.

When The Hunters captured Rick and a few other survivors and planned to eat them, it looked dire. Rick and his friends escaped, and later Rick shot and killed them. This differed from the comics, where Rick mutilated the Hunters in the most inhumane way possible. If Rick had crossed this line on the TV show, many fans likely would have turned on him instantly.

Maggie’s Attempted Suicide

Maggie went through more than most people and still ended up as one of the longest surviving characters on The Walking Dead. That says a lot when almost everyone lost someone and just about everyone from the first season was dead outside a select few. However, The Governor killed her dad, her sister died in the hospital shootout, and Negan beat her husband Glenn to death in front of her.

However, on The Walking Dead TV show, Maggie stayed strong, even though she left at one point to explore the world around them. There was one moment in the comics, however, where she couldn’t take it anymore and hung herself from a tree. Luckily, she ended up rescued, but that moment was overly graphic and would never work on the TV show.

Carl Murders Ben

By the time Carl Grimes died on The Walking Dead, he had become the voice of reason for many of the survivors. While his dad was questioning letting anyone else in, Carl kept his arms opened and wanted to save everyone he could. There were some things in the comics that would have ruined this.

Carl murdered a couple of people while he was a young child in The Walking Dead comics. One was defending his dad when he shot Shane. However, another would have been too graphic for TV, and that was when Carl realized Ben was dangerous and went in and murdered the child in cold blood. It was horrific and painted Carl as a dangerous killer in his own right, something that wouldn’t have worked on the TV show.

Pregnant Rosita’s Head On A Pike

There were some moments in The Walking Dead comics that never would have flown by AMC on the TV show. Two of them included the deaths of pregnant women. While one was horrifically graphic and terrible, even on the comic book page, the other was just tragic and mean spirited. That was Rosita’s death.

Rosita was pregnant, and while Eugene thought the baby was his, it was not. He didn’t learn the truth at the time because the powerful Walking Dead group, The Whisperers, chose Rosita as one of the victims who got her head on the spikes. This was overly graphic, since she was pregnant when they murdered her. Not only did Rosita not die in this way in the TV show, but she delivered her baby and lived to the finale before she finally died saving her child.

Otis Uses a Racial Slur

Viewers briefly meet to Otis in season 2 after he accidentally shoots Carl. Otis volunteers to go on a supply run to help, and it is here he meets his gruesome end. Hershel hired him as a ranch foreman, pre-apocalypse, and quickly became like family to the Greene family. He was a kind, caring, and generous person in the show. However, fans saw a different side of him in the comics.

Otis lives much longer in the comic series, surviving until the prison is overrun. Otis in the comic books is quite similar to the Otis shown in the TV series; however, in a fit of anger at his girlfriend for letting prisoners out of their cells, he calls the inmates the n-word. It seems out of character and only happens the one time, but was quite shocking to readers.

The Governor Kissing His Dead Daughter

Fans were shocked and horrified when the Governor revealed he kept his walker daughter in his house with him. The characters in the show were disgusted as well. The Governor would feed her body parts to keep her functioning.

In the comics, Penny is his niece, but he has adopted his dead brother’s name, so many think she is his daughter. He removes her teeth and then kisses her (the artwork is quite disgusting and graphic) and then immediately throws up from the taste. Audiences would agree that this scene is better left out of the show as this would have been too much for even extreme horror fans.

Carl Kills Shane As A Human

At the very end of season 2, Shane has been spiraling out of control. When Shane turns on Rick, Rick has no choice but to kill him to protect himself and the rest of the group. When Carl joins Rick a few minutes later, he shoots Shane who has reanimated.

In the comics, Shane dies a lot earlier in the series. Rick has only just made it back to the camp after being presumed dead for many weeks, and after he and Lori spend the night together, Shane can’t shake the jealousy he feels at Rick being back and losing Lori. He attacks Rick and draws his gun and is seconds away from shooting Rick when he is shot through the neck by Carl. Having an extremely young Carl shoot someone he looked up to and idolized so early on in the series may have been too intense for a TV show.

Carol’s Suicide

In the show, fans get to watch Carol grow from a scared, abused woman into a strong, fierce survivor. She has an incredible character arc, but in the comics, it wasn’t so. After losing her husband (who still abused her), Carol was unable to pull herself up and become the relentless killer that she is in the show.

Instead, she propositions Lori to let her become Rick’s second wife. After Lori says no and Carol found out Tyreese cheated on her, she willingly backs into walkers and allows them to kill and eat her. Suffice it to say, the Carol in the show is much more entertaining, and seeing her ask Lori to be a second wife would have been too weird.

Abraham’s Death

Abraham Ford is the muscle of the group. When Negan is introduced in the show, he singles Abraham out presumably because Abraham is so intimidating. In this cliffhanger finale, Negan has lined Rick and his group up and smashes Abraham’s head in with a bat covered in barbed wire. It’s a disturbing scene, though not as much as if it followed the comics.

Abraham doesn’t last as long in the comic books, never making it to the point where Negan has lined up the group. Instead, he is shot through the eye with an arrow by one of Negan’s men, Dwight. Despite the TV show version being disturbing on its own, seeing Abraham shot down with an arrow through his eye would have been even worse for TV audiences.

Michonne Seduces Tyreese

In the comic books, Carol and Tyreese have a relationship that doesn’t happen in the TV show. After the death of Carol’s husband, she never fully recovers, and her depression hits her hard. Despite this, Carol and Tyreese develop feelings and begin to date. However, Tyreese doesn’t know how to help Carol and ultimately cheats on her with Michonne.

Michonne has dealt with a lot and has her own emotional turmoil that she’s working through and therefore doesn’t care that she will hurt Carol by seducing Tyreese. The scene in the comics is very explicit and not at all suitable for television.

The Murder Of Hershel’s Daughters

Viewers are introduced to Hershel in the second season of the show after Carl has been shot. In the comics, Hershel has seven children: four daughters and three sons. His having more children in the comic books only results in more heartbreak for Hershel as almost all of them die.

While at the prison, an inmate hides from the group. Tragically, he decapitates Hershel’s two youngest daughters. Despite many main characters dying in the show, Hershel losing his children so often would have been a little repetitive.

Lori’s Death

Fans of the show will remember that Lori died giving birth to Judith while in the prison. It was a heartbreaking death, but it wasn’t anyone’s fault or something that could have been avoided, given the circumstances.

In the comics, however, Lori survives childbirth. She lives long enough for the Governor to attack the prison, and it is then that she and baby Judith are shot while running away from the attack. Rick turns around just in time to see Lori and Judith lying dead behind them and orders Carl not to look. This moment in the comics is gut-wrenching and seeing a baby get shot is definitely too graphic for TV.

The Governor Assaulting Michonne

In the TV show, the Governor kidnaps Andrea and Michonne to bring them to Woodbury but ultimately lets Michonne leave, only to send Merle after her to kill her. Instead, he captures Maggie and Glenn, resulting in Rick, Michonne, and the rest of the prison gang coming to their rescue. It’s at this time that Michonne kills the Governor’s daughter who had turned into a walker, enraging the Governor who tries to kill Michonne himself but instead gets stabbed in the eye by her.

In the comics, Michonne is not nearly as successful. She is kidnapped and held by the Governor, who brutalizes her for days. Thankfully, it is left out of the show as it is extremely graphic and not something that most viewers would want to see on TV.

Michonne’s Subsequent Revenge

Because the storyline of Michonne being sexually assaulted by the Governor never made it to TV, her revenge on him never needed to take place. If her being assaulted in the comics was graphic, her retaliation was ten-fold.

She cut off body parts, dug out his eye, used a torch and drill, and committed more acts of torture in an attempt to get back at him for what he did. Viewers would agree that this entire arc between Michonne and the Governor being left out was definitely for the best. The illustrations in the comics are extremely graphic and leave nothing to the imagination.

NEXT: Every Season Of The Walking Dead, Ranked By IMDb Average