Gore and blood are never lacking in The Walking Dead. After all, it's a show about zombies chomping on living people and survivors trying to make sure they live by battling other survivors for food and territory.
But the season premiere for The Walking Deadwent the extra mile. We not only got to see the two heads getting bashed, but also the Negan's sadism and so-called psychological torture for leader Rick Grimes.
Entertainment Weekly got in touch with show producer Greg Nicotero on his thoughts about the violence in the premiere episode. According to Nicotero, the violence was a necessary step, as it propels the show into a whole different arena.
In particular, the creators decided that it was best to show two deaths to prove a point—much like what Negan was trying to do during the episode.
"Part of the whole show is we really needed to drive Rick and Negan's story throughout the season, and we felt that one death would do the trick, but the second death, Glenn's death, really, really propels us into a very different direction. Glenn's death has a lot do with Rick's future story, Maggie's future story, and certainly, Daryl's future story, because Daryl is the one who launched himself at Negan, and so it just made for a more rich overall story arc for a lot of these other characters."
What the episode wanted to leave audiences with was that haunting memory of the episode, perhaps even worse than what audiences were made to feel back in their encounter with Terminus cannibals. It may have to do with the fact that this is the first time that we've truly seen Rick helpless.
So I guess this will really bring out Daryl's dark side, one with a lot of self-blaming and hand-wringing. Does this mean we'll be seeing a Daryl and Rick whiny tandem? I certainly hope not.
The Walking Dead will be back with its second episode on Oct. 30 on AMC.
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