‘The Walking Dead’ Season Five: Will Producers Stay Faithful To The Comic Book?

The Walking Dead is currently one of the most popular shows on TV today. And one of it’s greatest strengths is having a wealth of stories already written to base their TV adventures on. But with a brand new season ahead, will producers stay faithful with their adaptation or break off into new territory altogether?

[Warning: The Walking Dead TV and Comic Book Spoilers Ahead]

In an interview with Yahoo TV, Walking Dead producer Greg Nicotero discussed the comic book, created by Robert Kirkman, and how the show will continue to adapt and differ from the source material:

“Well, the source material is fantastic,” Nicotero said before detailing how The Walking Dead TV show differs from the comics:

“Last season when The Governor attacked the prison… in the comic book, Laurie dies in the attack from The Governor, but she’s been dead for one season already on the show. And in the comics, The Governor decapitated Tyreese instead of Hershel. So it’s taking those iconic moments from the graphic novel and translating them. Sometimes we’re faithful to the comic and sometimes we take some liberties, you know? The Lizzie-Mika story was in the comic book but was laid out a little bit differently, with different characters.”

Meanwhile, fan favorite Daryl Dixon, whose character was never even in the comics to begin with, has been the subject of rumors that his character is gay. As reported by The Inquisitr, series creator Robert Kirkman actually responded to these questions in the letters page of The Walking Dead comic book:

“All I can say is that it’s been discussed. We have very specific ideas about Daryl’s sexuality (or the seeming lack thereof), and if there’s ever a quiet period in the show where he’s not consistently distracted by crossbowing… we’ll tackle it in the show.”

So will Daryl Dixon be “coming out” in a future episode of The Walking Dead? From the looks of the Season 5 trailer that debuted at Comic-Con earlier this summer, it doesn’t look like Norman Reedus and the rest of The Walking Dead crew will have much time to worry about such trivial things. In fact, more scenes released from Season 4, as reported by The Inquisitr, raise serious doubt as to whether Daryl Dixon and the gang will even survive at all.

When we last left everyone at the end of Season 4, they were trapped in a Terminus train car, held prisoner by a gang of ruthless cannibals. And while the cannibal storyline was a key plot point in the comic books, the actual landing spot of Terminus was not. This is just another example of how producers have retained elements from the source material while striking out on their own as well.

Whether or not Robert Kirkman and the rest of The Walking Dead producers will continue to stay faithful to the comic books remains to be seen. One thing is certain — as Kirkman described to the LA Times — expect Season 5 of The Walking Dead to be an extremely intense ride for the entire cast.