HBO turned down the chance to makeThe Walking Dead, but the network’s reason for passing on the show suggests it wouldn’t have been as violent asGame of Thrones. At the beginning of the “Peak TV” era — also known as the Golden Age of Television — HBO was considered to be the home of prestige TV. HBO pioneeredthe TV antiherowithThe SopranosandThe Wireand blazed the trail for meta single-camera sitcoms withCurb Your EnthusiasmandThe Larry Sanders Show. HBO ditched the old episodic traditions and told serialized stories that felt like really long movies.
However, as the Golden Age went on, more and more networks launched their own HBO-style shows with cinematic visuals, complex characters, and risqué subject matter. AMC was one of the first networks to throw its hat in this ring. Shows likeMad MenandBreaking Badgave HBO’s best dramas a run for their money. AMC scored a blockbuster hit withthe record-breaking ratings ofThe Walking Dead, butThe Walking Deadcould’ve been an HBO show if the network had changed its stance on gore a couple of years earlier.
HBO & NBC Both Offered To Buy The Show If It Was Made Less Gory
When producer Gale Anne Hurd was first shoppingThe Walking Deadaround TV networks, there was plenty of interest in the project, butthere were some disagreements over the show’s graphic content. NBC and HBO both made offers to become the home ofThe Walking Dead, but they didn’t want to air the show as it was pitched to them; they wanted to make some stylistic changes. These networksonly made their offers on the condition that the series tone down the violence and gorefrom Robert Kirkman’s comic books.
Before working onThe Walking Dead, Gale Anne Hurd producedThe Terminator,Aliens, andArmageddon.
Hurd knew this would be unfaithful to the source material and compromise Kirkman’s creative vision, so she refusedto tone down the violence. As a result,HBO passed onThe Walking Dead, as did NBC, and Hurd held out for a network that would be comfortable with all the blood and guts they wanted to throw at the screen. This ultimately paid off, becauseThe Walking Deadfound the perfect home at AMC. Unlike NBC and HBO,AMC had no qualms aboutThe Walking Dead’s gore and allowed the producers to push it as far as they wanted.
It seems ironic that HBO turned downThe Walking Deadfor being too violent, because shortly thereafter, the network would become most famous for being the home ofGame of Thrones, one of the most violent shows in the history of television. The violence and gore inGame of ThronesgivesThe Walking Deada run for its money.The Walking Deadmight have bloodthirsty zombies, impromptu amputations, and people getting ripped open and eviscerated, butGame of Thronesis arguably even bloodier. Neither series is for the faint-hearted, butGame of Thronesmight be the goriest of the two.
Before Game of Thrones, HBO’s violence was often restrained, bloodless, and unstylized, like Tony Soprano garrotting a gangland rival or Omar Little getting gunned down in a convenience store.
Game of Throneshad a man’s eyes gouged out.The notorious Red Wedding massacresaw a pregnant woman get stabbed in the womb. Ramsay Bolton got mauled to death by his own hounds. BeforeGame of Thrones, HBO’s violence was often restrained, bloodless, and unstylized, like Tony Soprano garrotting a gangland rival or Omar Little getting gunned down in a convenience store. The violence wasn’t sensationalized like the zombie attacks inThe Walking Dead, soit makes sense that a pre-ThronesHBO turned down Kirkman’s zombie-infested drama. Of course, that all changed when HBO took a trip to Westeros.
If it had aired on HBO,The Walking Deadwould’ve been a very different show. There would’ve been both pros and cons toThe Walking Deadbeing an HBO show. For starters, HBO’s non-existent restrictions on cursing would’ve meant that the series wouldn’t have had tocensor Rick’s most badass line inThe Walking Dead’s season 4 finale.The Walking Deadstarted dropping F-bombs on AMC in its later seasons, but it would’ve been able to swear from the get-go on HBO. ButThe Walking Deadprobably wouldn’t have been as action-packedif it was an HBO original.
The Last Of Us Risks Repeating The Walking Dead’s Source Material Mistake - But There’s Still Time To Avoid The Same Problem If TLOU 3 Happens
Despite The Walking Dead franchise’s huge levels of success, The Last of Us TV show needs to avoid copying one of its adaptation techniques.
HBO eventually did make its own zombie show,The Last of Us, which is a good indication of what HBO’sThe Walking Deadwould’ve looked like. LikeThe Walking Dead,The Last of Ustakes place in a dystopian, zombie-infested post-apocalyptic wasteland where the remnants of humanity have descended into territorial savagery and separated into factions. While it does have a couple of thrilling set-pieces,The Last of Ushas a lot less zombie actionthanThe Walking Dead. It puts much more emphasis on the post-apocalyptic psyche than the spectacle of the undead.
