The Walking Dead is one of the world’s most popular zombie franchises. Creator Robert Kirkman wants to make an animated adaptation, but there’s a problem:
Robert Kirkman is currently seeing his superhero comic Invincible enjoy huge success as an animated show over at Prime Video. Invincible has proven itself to be among the very best superhero shows on the air at the moment, standing high and mighty alongside anything put out by heavyweights like Marvel and DC. Kirkman now wants to give the animated series treatment to another one of his iconic comic book series: The Walking Dead.
The idea of making an animated Walking Dead series is something that fans can rally behind. Of course, the long-running live-action AMC show was incredibly beloved, but it wasn’t a faithful one-to-one adaptation of the comic. For instance, Daryl Dixon doesn’t exist on the page; Rick loses his hand to the Governor; Judith dies in the prison arc, and so on.
In response to a fan letter in the latest issue of The Walking Dead Deluxe, put out by Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment, Kirkman weighed in on the prospect of giving his zombie saga the animated treatment. “I’d love to see it happen someday, but I don’t think it’ll be possible until I get the rights back from AMC,” he wrote.
AMC won’t be giving up the rights anytime soon. Their slice of the Walking Dead Universe is still as exciting as ever. Daryl Dixon season 2, The Book of Carol, is out later this year, and Dead City season 2 is in production. There’s sure to be other projects in the pipeline too. Even so, Kirkman has made his intensions known, but only time will tell if they come to fruition.
“There’s definitely been developments over the years for something like this, and there’s a lot of fans over here that would still very much love to make that happen,” Skybound’s editor Amanda LaFranco added.
A faithful animated version of The Walking Dead could address plot points never seen in the live-action show, and adapt spinoff comics that the TV show never covered, such asThe Alien and Negan Lives. They could also include Clementine, the protagonist from Telltale’s popular Walking Dead video game. It certainly wouldn’t be the same story we’ve all seen before. However, I’d also like to see Kirkman’s other comics get similar treatment. There’s Outcast, Fire Power, Oblivion Song…the list goes on!
Outside of The Walking Dead, Skybound recently announced a crowdfunding campaign for a AAA Invincible video game. The fundraiser has already raised over $400,000. You can invest here.
