In the season 3 premiere of The Walking Dead, Herschel had an unfortunate run-in with a walker, and ended up losing part of his leg. Can he survive this season?
After Rick and his crew set up in the prison and cleared out most of the walkers, they thought they were in pretty good shape. Then Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn, and Herschel decided to explore a little bit further. Too bad Herschel wasn’t paying enough attention to where he was walking. Spoilers ahead!
In a desperate attempt to save Herschel’s life, Rick decides to hack off Herschel’s leg below his knee. His reasoning is that it isn’t the bite that kills you, but if they let it spread, it could turn him. Will he lose too much blood, or will he make it out alive?
Who will take over the role of doctor now that Herschel is the patient? We have been relying on Herschel, a former veterinarian, to take care of the sick and wounded. Our guess is that Daryl will step up, since he’s had experience hunting and working with animals.
If you’ve read the comics, you know that it is not Herschel who loses his leg, but Allen (even though The Talking Dead incorrectly said in a brief moment that it was Dale). Allen is not someone who we’ve met on the show. The injury results in Allen’s death, so what does that mean for Herschel?
Will the show follow the comics’ same storyline, and include Herschel’s death? How would the group survive without Herschel? He’s definitely become an asset to the group, with his extensive knowledge in medicine and farming. They need him to help cultivate the fields on the prison grounds.
MTV put together a nice tribute video to Herschel’s leg, complete with interviews with the cast and crew about their favorite attributes of the aforementioned leg. Robert Kirkman says that it wasn’t his favorite leg of Herschel’s anyway. Remember the good moments of Herschel’s mobility in this video while taps plays in the background.
