Robert Kirkman Reveals Which ‘Walking Dead’ Character Dies Next

Robert Kirkman, creator of the smash AMC series The Walking Dead was featured recently on Sundance TV’s The Writer’s Room. On the show, he talked about how loosely he likes adapting The Walking Dead comic book to TV. But he also may have let slip as to which major Walking Dead character will die next:

“If we were adapting things extremely closely, then I’d be bored. So I’m often times the guy saying ‘Screw the comic, let’s do this, it would be more fun! What? Rick dies? That would be crazy!'”

Ok, so he was probably only kidding about the fate of Rick Grimes, but the fact that Kirkman admits to not feeling compelled to stick word-for-word what’s in the comic book, allows for some differentiation between both mediums.

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead]

One example is that in the comic book, the Governor cuts off Rick’s hand whereas on the show that event does not take place:

“I like that fact that he lost his hand in the comic. [But] to be completely honest the practical difficulties of having a guy who doesn’t have a hand… would be impossible in the show. Because the comic book doesn’t move. One of the recent issues #122 or #123, Rick is standing on top of a truck. It would take him quite a while to climb on top of the truck, but we just show him on top of the truck.”

He also made it clear that he doesn’t let what’s happening on The Walking Dead TV show influence his comic book writing:

“I’m very careful that that doesn’t happen. I wouldn’t want the existence of the show to influence what I have planned for the comic.”

Finally, he elaborated on when he thinks both The Walking Dead comic and the TV show will end and how protective he is on where the true ending for the series will take place:

“My desire is the comic book series will run for 3-400 issues and television shows don’t historically last that long. So I’ve considered the fact that the television show will come to an end before the comic book. And because of that, I can never tell anyone my plans for ending the comic book series because it may end up in the show before I get the chance to do it in the comic.”

As for how many seasons he thinks the show has in it, according to Comicbookblog.com, Kirkman was recently quoted as saying he thinks The Walking Dead “will be lucky to make it to season 7.”

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead returns in October on AMC.