Scott Gimple, the current showrunner of The Walking Dead recently told Entertainment Weekly that the upcoming Mid-Season Premiere – AKA Carl’s death episode, will set the stage for the rest of the season and series. “I can’t say exactly what happens, but there is a story there and there are remarkable performances by everybody involved, led by Chandler Riggs, Gimple told EW. “And a certain compulsion is given to the story, certain ideas and wishes and even reveals with incredible importance to this season in the overall story.”
Although fans have maligned the decision to kill off one of the show’s original characters, Gimple assures them the decision is necessary to for the story going forward. “This episode, 809, sets very important ideas for the rest of the season — very important motivations and it re-contextualizes everything that’s been going on and gives it a perspective that just can’t be denied,” he told EW’s Dalton Ross. “It scrambles some things. But Carl’s presence is felt very deeply in the story throughout the story. It’s a critical aspect of the season.”
Gimple also noted that his death will end up helping the characters fight Negan. “Them deciding who they are going to be is certainly part of it and how they might be able to win this thing and also rethink the entire effort to beat Negan rather than find another way.”
Moving beyond this season, Walking Dead Creator Robert Kirkman assured fans that Carl’s comic storylines wouldn’t be left in the dust. “There are big, huge stories coming up that you might think will be massively altered because of the absence of Carl,” Kirkman told EW. “But we have known these story lines have been coming for years. There are plans in place to make it all work. The loss of Carl doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to be losing big swaths of the comic book story. It means that there will be some differences to them.”
Catch the rest of the interview over at Entertainment Weekly. The Walking Dead returns Sunday, February 25th at 9PM.
I would prefer to preview life without Scott m gimple ruining the walking dead…….
Despite a little dive in quality since Season 5 wrapped up, I think it is pretty pathetic for people to dis Gimple when he has probably done more for the show than anybody else has… more than likely, all because their panties are stuck in a tight little wad over Carl. So hung up on the show mirroring the comic that they just can’t separate it from the comic & judge/appreciate it for its own value to the point that they can’t even recognize that Carl’s character in the show is nowhere near the badass of the comic ANYWAY! These guys have their own fan label like the Daryl/Carol Shippers & the Beth Petitioners. Think I’ll call them The Comic CRYterion Babies (Canonites is taken).
The show has great parts that reflect the comic as well as deviate from it & Gimple has been phenomenal in knowing just how, when, & where to make it happen. I love that.
A little dive in quality????….All out war has been horrible…..the trash people suck…..seaside is lame…..thanks gimple….
I don’t see what’s been so bad about AOW, on the whole. Yeah, the technical dept. needs to clean up with the gunfire & whatnot, but the story & emotion behind it is still good. Jadis-n-crew & Oceanside are deviations from the comic & seemingly to me, often complained about by people who are hung up on comic/show parallels, which validates my point above. For me, they add some unpredictability to the show, which some fans actually enjoy.
Although I love seeing the adaptations, there will always be a part of me that is a little put off because I know what’s generally coming by reading the comic, & so I am excited when the deviations come. It ADDS to the show!
And the way Gimple sets things off oftentimes comes around full circle a little later on, leaving us with plenty of time to wonder, suspect, discuss, & later on, reflect. If you can’t do that but can only see Jadis’s lingo as being stupid, Oceanside as being pointless, Carl’s comic lines/actions nonexistent in the show damning it, etc. then you are truly missing out.
The deviations don’t always add to the show though, it has been pretty hit or miss lately. There are a lot of show only fans that were mad about Carl’s death and disliked the trash people as well. It’s not all about people wanting it to be the same as the comic, it’s just people are disliking a bunch of stuff and they want their voices to be heard because they love the show and want it to be the best it can be. Gimple should be the one taking the heat because he said it was his decision to kill Carl and it was for the story. All we can do is take him at his word. Lucky for him he will still be involved in the franchise.
I gotcha. Lots of people don’t like Jadis & crew, but they also don’t like Negan. They don’t like the CHARACTERS, and that’s fine. We shouldn’t like all of the characters (I hated Lori & love to hate The Governor & Negan). That’s effective characterization. But being upset over Carl’s death because he’s been with us from the start, we’ve watched him grow, it’s Rick’s son, & we love ’em, etc. is a little different than being upset because his death tosses up something they were expecting from the comic. And when it comes to Carl’s death, mostly what I’m reading is pertaining to deviation from the comic. It’s the complaints about the CONCEPT that I’m addressing.
Can’t agree this time, unfortunately. I appreciated at him first for sticking to the more iconic comic moments but he’s just a BAD writer, Bassy. His pacing is inconsistent, his cliffhanger choices are terrible, and his shock-purely-for-the-sake-of-shock writing style is boring, predictable, and hurts the story far more than it helps it. Compare this to Game of Thrones seasons 1-5 where every death, even when shocking, served to bring the narrative somewhere else. Lots of Gimple’s death decisions don’t do that and I doubt this one will in any meaningful way either.
It’s OK to disagree. Always have much respect for your opinion.
I’m fine with Gimple’s direction, although I do agree with you on the cliffhangers. I see most, if not all, the deaths carrying weight to push the story forward. I bet Carl’s last wishes (influenced in part by interaction with Siddiq) is what keeps Rick from killing Negan… right now, Rick doesn’t have the same conviction that Carl had. I can’t deny that there’s certainly some shock value coming into play, because it certainly shocked the hell outta me! But isn’t that a good thing sometimes?
I feel the same towards you, Bassy. Shock CAN be a good thing somettimes and while I haven’t really followed the show closely at all for the last few seasons, I’m really cynical about this. They keep saying it’s totally going to have a major impact but they say that after EVERY major event. After enough times of things being “shaken up” it feels like nothing’s really changed at all. And even without all my love for Carl, they really did do Chandler dirty in this deal, period. We can see how this plays out but I just can’t see it playing out in any way that means anything.
If you can recognize the show took a dive in quality…you might think it was a slight one…myself and many others think it fell off a cliff. However slight or massive the dive may be – it rests on Gimple’s shoulders and there is no excuse for that. Another show runner could have knocked it out of the park with Negan and AOW. It is some of the best material in the books. Instead it’s been a downward spiral.
And no I don’t want everything to be exactly the same. I think I’m objective. I liked terminus. Don’t care about Carl dying at all. Hate Jardis though – wtf is that? It’s not about deviations for me. I like a little variety as well, but Gimple just forgot how to tell a compelling story based on the characters. It’s like watching a powerpoint of forced story milestones, with 1 dimensional dialog, and bad editing at this point – and that’s on Gimple. Good riddance.
This is the way I was feeling about season 6. Last season got a little better during the 1st half but dropped off for the 2nd half. This season picked back up. For me, anyway.
Your comment is legit. I just get annoyed with the gripes on when the show doesn’t follow the comic, as if it HAS to.