Warning: This article contains spoilers from the premiere of “Years” of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
With all the talk about The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live being primarily a love story, you may have been lulled into believing that the franchise's latest spin-off series wouldn't contain any brutally shocking acts . These beliefs were dispelled just minutes into the first episode.
The series debut began by showing Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes working for the Civic Republic military to clear out burning walkers. The captured Rick was tied by his wrist to a soldier so he couldn't escape, but little did that soldier know that he was dealing with a guy who would literally chop his own wrist off to get free – and that's exactly what Rick did .
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
Gene page/AMC
Not only did Rick chop off his left hand and proclaim “Here's how” before swinging the ax – but he also burned the wound in the flames of a dead zombie as he tried to escape. (Unfortunately, it was all for nothing when Rick was recaptured. DOH!)
As brutal and shocking as this move was, it actually corrects a major difference between The Walking Dead comic and the TV adaptation that followed. In the comic, Rick lost his hand early on – it was chopped off by the Governor (played on TV by David Morrissey) in issue 28 after Rick refused to answer questions during interrogation. Had the show followed this example, TV Rick would have lost his hand around the third season of the original series.
According to showrunner Scott M. Gimple, the impetus to finally separate Rick Grimes from his limbs came from the man who plays him. “I played around with the idea, but didn't commit to it through all the possible iterations of the story,” Gimple tells EW. “But it was Andy who pushed it forward. Andy was the one who got it over the goal line.”
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
Gene page/AMC
The star admits he is guilty as charged, which isn't surprising since he campaigned for a return to the original Walking Dead. “I just bullied everyone into submission,” Lincoln says. “And there were quite a few conversations, particularly with AMC, where people said, 'Well, Andy, we love the idea, but are you really sure about it?' But I just thought: This is the time to do what the comic did and honor that. I tried to present this for years and everyone just shouted me down.”
And why was now the right time for it? Because fans are aware of Rick Grimes’ “never give up” attitude. “We had to explain why Rick never came back,” Lincoln says. “This is a guy who would do anything to come back. So what would be the most extraordinary act or effort he would make to get back to his beloved?”
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
Gene page/AMC
Cutting off your own hand seems like just the right thing to do. And Gimple explains that that's why they had to take care of it right from the start. “The reason it’s at the beginning of the story is because it’s Rick Grimes,” the showrunner says. “So why didn’t he escape? This is a guy who will do anything, but what happens when you do everything and still don't win? And he doesn’t give up even after that!”
“Walking Dead” comic creator Robert Kirkman later said he regretted cutting off Rick's hand in the comic because it meant he had to write about the injury often, but Gimple says the TV version only required ” the commitment to figure it out, no matter what problems there may be, “come out of it.” The showrunner also says that the original comic moment was worth the headache it caused Kirkman. “I think it was important for me as a comic book reader to see it because it helped set the tone for what this world is about, that these crazy things can happen.”
And that tone was just set on The Ones Who Live.
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