In continuing our “Week with Gale Anne Hurd” leading up to the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead on Sunday, today we’re revealing what Hurd believes to be the greatest risks taken by the series.
As a show that revolves around constant violence needed for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, The Walking Dead is bound to take plenty of risks with how they handle to material.
According to Gale Anne Hurd, though, she believes the biggest risk was going with no pilot and ordering a six-episode run to begin the series.
“I think the biggest risk that anyone took was when AMC and Fox International channel agreed to greenlight six episodes and not start with a pilot. That was the first season, and that was very risky because if it hadn’t worked, that would have been a lot of money.”
Luckily for Hurd and everyone involved with The Walking Dead, their plan worked incredibly well.
Since we recently learned that The Walking Dead might have originally aired on NBC, we asked Gale Anne Hurd if she thought the show would have been different.
“A network show has many more limitations than a cable show, and up until recently they tend to be less risky in their choices.”
Even though this was before Hurd really got involved with the show, she noted that producer Frank Darabont wrote a draft of the script for NBC.
While discussing the unpredictability of a show like The Walking Dead, Hurd revealed that she thinks the biggest risks are taken when the show veers away from Robert Kirkman’s original comic series.
“There are two types of risks. The first is when we deviate from the comic books, and that was certainly the case when we went to the Center for Disease control in Atlanta the first season, as well as creating new characters like Daryl and Merle Dixon.”
We are definitely thankful for the creation of these new characters, especially considering that Daryl has become a runaway fan favorite.
Hurd continued, “When we changed up how Shane stayed around a lot longer on the TV series than he did in the comic book. You know he met his doom in a way that was different from the comic books.”
It’s tough to make these types of decisions, but we’re always willing to put our faith in those like Gale Anne Hurd who bring The Walking Dead to life.