'The Walking Dead' Season 7: Brutal Storytelling Approach Was Intended For A Reason, says Showrunner
Creators of the hit zombie apocalypse TV series "The Walking Dead" maintain that the brutal approach of storytelling in season 7 was intended and made for a reason.
Showrunner Scott M. Gimple recently clarified with Entertainment Weekly that the level of gore when Negan killed Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) in the season premiere was intended to show something that's "above and beyond" what "The Walking Dead" has done before.
"The violence in the premiere was pronounced for a reason. The awfulness of what happened to the characters was very specific to that episode and the beginning of this whole new story. ... There was a purpose of traumatizing these characters to a point where maybe they would have been docile for the rest of their lives, which was Negan's point," Gimple explained to EW.
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The showrunner added: "The violence in the premiere was for a specific narrative purpose ... If we're ever going to see something that pronounced, there needs to be a specific narrative purpose for it."
Gimple's statement came shortly after the news broke that they are going to tone down the violence for the remaining parts of the show.
During the National Association of Television Program Executives conference last week in Miami, Florida, producer Gale Anne Hurd said in a panel discussion (via Variety) that after considering the backlash to the season premiere, they decided to tone down the level of violence for the episodes that are yet to be filmed for the latter part of the season.
Fans can recall that the show's season 7 got off to a bloody, brutal start due to its premiere episode. Some are probably still mourning the way Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) smashed Glenn's head so badly that one of his eyeballs popped out. Negan and his reliable bat, Lucille, did not stop there though. Considering that it was the tone set for the installment, it obviously shook some fans as they realized they are in for a more brutal season.
Some viewers deemed the carnage portrayal was too much for TV. Even Morgan expressed to USA Today that he felt the violence was a lot. The actor said that, for him, the really creepy parts of the scene was when it was hard to see what was happening "except for the silhouette of Negan with the bat coming down, with the blood flying." The actor added, "I don't know if you need to see the close up gore of it all."
"The Walking Dead" season 7 will resume on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 9 p.m. on AMC.
