[If you haven’t watched The Walking Dead season six, you might not want to read through this.]
It has not been at all uncommon for AMC’s The Walking Dead series to diverge from Robert Kirkman’s comic-book source material. Andrea and Carol ended up with very different characterizations, for example, and Glenn was spared from a death. We’ll find that out soon enough when TWD returns on October 23; the season premiere should answer our questions of who got their noggin bashed by Negan. It’s still possible that the story will match up with that of the comics’ (sorry, Glenn), but one thing we now know for certain is that the series’ conclusion will differ from the comics’. Kirkman revealed his plans while chatting with the comic-book man Kevin Smith (say “Excelsior!” three times, and he appears) on the latter’s Geeking Out series.
First of all, Kirkman won’t so much as share his idea for the comic book’s ending, because he rather not have that info make its way into the show before he has a chance to post it in panels. That’s in line with his sentiments about George R.R. Martin bowing to pressure from Game Of Thrones’ fans, and letting showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss in on the ending. Anyway, Kirkman suspects the Walking Dead—at least, this iteration—will wrap long before he’s ready to end his penned adventures. Of course, AMC wants to keep the franchise alive as long as possible, even if it just ends up a gnashing head on the side of some Georgia road. Maybe this standoff will eventually see Kirkman holed up in some suburban development to write his comics, fending off marauding TV executives.