The Walking Dead Producers Deny They Toned Down Violence In Response To Backlash

Earlier this month, The Walking Dead producer Gale Anne Hurd said the level of violence on the show was toned down for future episodes after some criticized the Season 7 premiere for being too bloodthirsty. "We were able to look at the feedback on the level of violence," she said. "We did tone it down for episodes we were still filming for later on in the season."

Now, two of the show's other producers have come forward to say that this is not the case. Showrunner Scott Gimple said the Season 7 premiere, in which Negan brutally murders two characters with a barbed-wire baseball bat, was conceived as being an over-the-top moment for the show.

"The violence in the premiere was pronounced for a reason," he told Entertainment Weekly. "The awfulness of what happened to the characters was very specific to that episode and the beginning of this whole new story. I don't think like that's the base level of violence that necessarily should be on the show. It should be specific to a story and a purpose, and 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."

If The Walking Dead is to have additional scenes of grotesque violence, there would need to be a "specific narrative purpose for it," Gimple said.

Executive producer and director Greg Nicotero was even more direct. Asked if the level of violence on the show was toned down for future episodes in response to fan feedback, he said, "No."

"As brutal as that Episode 1 was, it's still part of our storytelling bible, which is what the world is about," he explained. "I don't think we would ever edit ourselves, and I think--even after looking at that Episode 1 again--as tough as it was for people to watch, I don't think we would have done it any differently. I don't think we’ll ever pull ourselves back. There is definitely a difference between violence against walkers and human-on-human violence, but truthfully, we're serving our story."

You can read the full interview here at Entertainment Weekly.

The Walking Dead returns on February 12 for the second half of Season 7. Earlier this month, a series of cryptic posters were released.

An eighth season is also on the way and is scheduled to start in late 2017 with the show's 100th episode.