Robert Kirkman Admits George R.R. Martin Is the Master of Character Deaths

The spin-off series Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been a significant addition to AMC’s successful franchise, but originally, if it were up to creator Robert Kirkman, the show might not have been developed.

During a lively masterclass at Annecy, Kirkman admitted that, in the early stages, he was always eager to eliminate characters, including the beloved Daryl Dixon, portrayed by Norman Reedus.

“From the onset of Walking Dead, I was that crazy guy in the writers’ room suggesting, ‘Why not just kill off the main character? Let’s do something unpredictable,’” he confessed. “For a while, I was really advocating for Daryl Dixon’s death. There wasn’t a character I didn’t consider killing at some point.”

Fortunately, Kirkman restrained his more destructive impulses, which proved beneficial as the Daryl Dixon spin-off, launched three years ago, has thrived within the franchise.

At Annecy, Kirkman also paid tribute to George R. R. Martin, famed creator of Game of Thrones, confessing that he has never met Martin but admires his ruthless approach to character development.

“He’s the master, and I’m merely a student,” Kirkman commented. “He’s far superior at eliminating characters than I am.”

Kirkman shared the challenges he faced while adapting The Walking Dead from his successful comic series into a television format.

“One of the coolest aspects of the comics was the unpredictability, and it bothered me that the TV show had this underlying blueprint. So, I thought it’d be interesting to deviate from that. We made significant changes in the series, especially in the later seasons, trying to adapt comic storylines for characters who had diverged from their original arcs, which was both tedious and frustrating,” he explained.

The Challenging ‘Invincible’ Screenplay

For his Prime Video adult animation series, Invincible, produced by his own Skybound Entertainment, Kirkman decided to sidestep the alignment between the comics and the show.

The series centers around teenager Mark Grayson, who is a human-alien hybrid and a superhero named “Invincible,” mentored by his father, Nolan/Omni-Man. Voiced by stars like JK Simmons, Sandra Oh, and Mark Hamill, Kirkman emphasized the depth of the characters in Invincible.

“When these characters battle across the globe, I want the audience to feel like they’re witnessing a historic event that will be discussed for decades,” he noted. “We aim to portray the gravity of these events and their impact in a realistic context.”

Kirkman believes that Invincible, a project he had been nurturing for years even before The Walking Dead, has now surpassed the latter in popularity.

He also recounted his initial attempts at drafting an Invincible movie script for Universal Studios, which he humorously described as “absolutely horrible” and “embarrassing.”

Ultimately, Kirkman’s efforts culminated in success, with Skybound producing Invincible in-house and Prime Video commissioning multiple seasons.

Kirkman shared these insights with a full house at the International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, where he was scheduled to speak further with other Prime Video creators.