Warning: This story could contain possible spoilers for The Walking Dead.
If you’re a fan of AMC’s Walking Dead, you probably know that the show and the bestselling comic series it’s based on have a few significant differences.
For starters, some of the comic fandom’s most beloved characters have never been on the show, while other characters like Daryl Dixon are inventions of the television series.
Now, Cinefix is bringing us an in-depth look at some of the major differences between the show’s narrative and the comic’s narrative. If you’ve ever wondered whether a scene in the AMC version came from the comic series, their eight-minute video gives you a pretty good idea of what kinds of things stay in and what new material gets added.
Cinefix’s take only covers the first season of the television series, but comparing the overlap between the comic means there are spoilers galore ahead for both series well into season 2.
So what’d you think? We’re pretty bummed that AMC didn’t let us see Glenn, total badass, singlehandedly rescue Rick from a zombie horde. And of course, there’s the saga at the Atlanta’s Center for Disease Control, a major player in the Season 1 finale. It didn’t even appearing in the comics.
Other things we wish we didn’t know: Carol’s husband Ed isn’t even alive when the comic series starts. Sure, we know Carol evolves into a total warrior, but the television adaptation chose to start her evolution by making her a downtrodden abuse victim. (The comic series arguably makes her even more downtrodden, but instead of perpetuating harmful tropes about battered women, it perpetuates harmful tropes about overly dependent women, so take your pick, really.) Still, Carol and Tyreese also have a thing in the comics, which we can totally get behind, even though it ends, er, horribly. We’re also impressed that Carl was apparently killing zombies in the comic series long before he kills one on the show. Yay for destruction of childhood innocence!
Meanwhile, Cinefix shored up the obvious similarity between both the comic and the television series, namely that if the zombie apocalypse ever hits, we’re all toast compared to these characters.
Screengrab via YouTube