‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6: How Will The TV Series Compare To The Comics?

Season 6 of AMC’s The Walking Dead is fast approaching. As cast gets announced, fans are starting to wonder how closely Season 6 will follow the comic book series the show is based on. Let’s have a look at what we know so far about season 6 in relation to the comic books.

WARNING: This article contains information about both the television and comic book series of The Walking Dead. Please proceed with caution if you are not up to date on both yet.

AMC’s The Walking Dead is based on the Walking Dead comic book series by Robert Kirkman. Over previous seasons AMC has followed parts of the comic book storylines closely and deviated on others, so how much can Walking Dead fans expect to see of the source material in Season 6? Let’s have a closer look.

• In the comics, Alexandria gets overrun by a herd of walkers after gunfire attracts them. Plenty of people die during this event and someone loses an eye. While we will move onto who will lose an eye in a minute, the chances of Alexandria getting overrun with walkers in the very first episode of Season 6 seems highly likely. The director of Episode 1 (entitled “First Time Again”) and special FX makeup designer, Greg Nicotero has already told Walking Dead viewers via an interview he did on the AMC website that there will be a huge amount of walkers in the first three episodes of Season 6. According to the interview, Nicotero estimates there are more walkers in the first few episodes than in the entirety of the previous season — that’s sounds like Alexandria being overrun. Andrew Lincoln has also told Entertainment Weekly that Episode 1 of The Walking Dead will be told over 18 different storylines, another indicator that mayhem is about to unfold. There will also be a time jump from the Season 5 finale and into Episode 1 of Season 1 that will work its way back to show viewers exactly what happened.

• Now, for that person who loses an eye. When Alexandria is overrun, Carl gets shot in the eye by a stray bullet from Douglas Monroe’s gun. Douglas doesn’t appear in the TV series, but has been replaced by the character called Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh). It is possible Deanna could accidentally shoot Carl (played by Chandler Riggs in the TV series), however, showrunner Scott M. Gimple was tight-lipped when Entertainment Weekly asked him about the possibility of this event occurring in Season 6 of The Walking Dead. “We don’t know if anybody’s losing their eye,” says Gimple. “This is not A Christmas Story.” He also mentioned that sometimes things from the comics don’t eventuate in the TV series, like Rick Grimes losing his hand, explaining that it is all about balance when it comes to what they include from the comics and what they exclude.

“There is a balance to be struck. If it is stuff that’s really important to serve the character, we need to try and do it. It’s also just if we can pull it off on a consistent basis in a great way. There’s stuff we can do, there’s stuff we can’t do. I would never tell you what it is.”

All we know is that if Carl is to lose an eye, it will likely happen in Episode 1 if Alexandria is indeed overrun by walkers. ComicBook recently reviewed Episode 1 and said it ends “with a cliffhanger of Carl-getting-shot-in-the-woods proportions,” so could this be a hint that Carl really will lose his eye? Only time will tell.

• Something we do know is occurring is the arrival of Paul “Jesus” Monroe. The casting call for this character was announced only recently with the news that British actor, Tom Payne, had been cast to play Jesus. This previous Inquisitr article explains the role of Jesus in more detail, but basically, he is a member of the Hilltop Colony and used to be a member of Alexandria. Eventually, in the comic books, Rick and Jesus become friends. However, the advent of Jesus in the TV series is a portent of bad times coming, namely, the arrival of a character called Negan.

• Negan is a character from the Walking Dead comics that is potentially worse than the Governor. Not only is he a nasty person, his arrival will signify the death of a much loved Walking Dead character. We will move onto which Walking Dead character dies at the hands of Negan in a moment. Recently, The Spoiling Dead released a casting call for a character that fits the bill for Negan.

“[ORIN] 30s to mid 40s. A physically imposing, charismatic, brutal, smart, ferocious, frightening, hilarious, inappropriate, oddly friendly, fun loving sociopath that is both a leader of men and a killer of men. He has both a practical and emotional intelligence, he’s a brilliant strategist, he’s pure, dangerous, murderous, often gleeful id, that still has both discipline and a code. And he has a temper that can vaporize people. He’s truly one of the strongest personalities ever…”

If this casting call is correct, then it is likely Negan will turn up, Michonne-style at the very end of Season 6 of The Walking Dead, which means the character he kills in the comics will survive Season 6, but will possibly lose his life in season 7 of The Walking Dead.

• Negan has a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that he likes to call Lucille. In the Walking Dead comics, he kills Glenn Rhee (played by Steven Yeun in the TV series) with it. If Scott M. Gimple follows this storyline in the AMC version, then it is likely Glenn will likely survive season 6 of the TV series but fans can start worrying about his safety all over again in Season 7 of The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC with its Season 6 premiere on Sunday, October 11, 2015.

What are your predictions for Season 6 of The Walking Dead? How much do you think will com directly from the comics? Let us know your theories by commenting below!

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