HBO Passed On Making The Walking Dead For A Surprising Reason

In a December 2024 interview with ColliderKirkman credited original “Walking Dead” showrunner Frank Darabont with getting the series made at all. According to Kirkman, Darabont had stumbled across the “Walking Dead” comic at the House of Secrets (a comic store in Burbank, California) and thought the serialized drama was a perfect story to bring to TV. He wasn’t the only one. As “Walking Dead” producer Gale Ann Hurd recalled to Variety in 2016:

“What attracted me to (Robert Kirkman’s) comic book series is that it is a story about characters on a journey into this new world, and constantly trying to figure out not only how to survive but what’s important to them.”

But as passionate as Darabont and co. were, they still had trouble convincing TV networks. Darabont brought the series to NBC because he had a deal with the network at the time. However, its problems with the material extended beyond the violence. One NBC executive thought the “Walking Dead” comics should be adapted as a police procedural where, apparently, Sheriff Rick Grimes and a partner would solve zombie-related crimes every week. Another asked: “Do there have to be zombies?”

Despite their reservations about the violence, HBO was apparently more interested. Kirkman claimed to Collider that there was a “bidding war” between AMC and HBO for “The Walking Dead” in the end. (We all know who won that.) Here’s how Kirkman put it:

“AMC and HBO kind of got into a competition of, ‘We’ll give Robert this.’ ‘No, we’ll give Robert this.’ ‘No, we’ll give Robert this.’ ‘No, we’ll give Robert this,’ and we just kept going, ‘Well, HBO gave us this,’ and then AMC would go, ‘All right.’ And then to HBO, we’d be like, ‘AMC gave us this,’ and HBO’d go, ‘All right.'”

However, HBO still impacted “The Walking Dead” indirectly. Darabont’s initial choice to play Rick was not Andrew Lincoln, but Thomas Jane. (Darabont had worked with Jane on “The Mist.”) But Jane had to pass because he’d already signed on as the lead in “Hung,” an HBO-produced comedy series about a middle-aged high school teacher who becomes a sex worker. (It lasted three seasons.)

If HBO had won the “Walking Dead” bidding war, one big difference that comes to my mind is the dialogue. HBO, ungoverned by FCC rules for public broadcasting, can let its characters swear up a storm with the seven dirty words. That means Negan would’ve been able to curse like he does in the comic. AMC let “The Walking Dead” get away with ultra-violence, but as a broadcast network, its hands were tied with the swearing.