Today, The Walking Dead is a cultural juggernaut, with multiple household-name TV adaptations and a library of games set in the world overrun by Walkers. It’s therefore surprising to look back at the series and learn how many of its most iconic moments were almost completely different. From the very beginning to the definitive ending, Walking Dead went through some major changes in the planning phase that transformed the story. However, one idea was never considered, and writer Robert Kirkman actually seems a little offended that fans ever thought it was in contention.

In The Walking Dead Deluxe #89 (from Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Dave McCaig), Kirkman shares the issue’s plan, his own creator notes from today, and reprinted letters from the original run, which often take on new meaning in the context of where the series ended up going. In this issue, a fan comments, “I have friends who are convinced that the series will end with it being revealed Rick was in a ******-up coma dream the whole time. Please don’t make them be right.” Kirkman responds with an emphatic, “Seriously, that is not the ending, I would never do that. DE-BUNKED.”

walking dead's rick wakes up from his coma

While Kirkman sometimes used the letters page to mislead fans, building up planned twists by making them seem less possible, we now know that the ending never came close to making the entire zombie apocalypse Rick’s coma dream. However, the franchise did almost end in a very different way.

Walkers are well known to be a huge threat in the Walking Dead universe, but the series’ end presents a new problem that could destroy what’s left.

Walking Dead was never a coma dream, but it was originally planned to end with a devastating loss for Rick’s survivors.

Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman Never Considered the ‘Rick’s Coma Dream’ Ending

The Walking Dead Creator Seems Offended by the Suggestion

the walking dead comic panel where an older carl looks up at a statue of rick grimes, hand held high the walking dead comic panel where an older carl looks up at a statue of rick grimes, discussing it being inaccurate
the walking dead comic panel where an older carl looks up at a statue of rick grimes, discussing it being inaccurate 2 Walking Dead's carl, now an older man, looks back over his shoulder fondly. carl reads to his daughter in walking dead's futurethe walking dead comic panel where an older carl looks up at a statue of rick grimes, hand held high the walking dead comic panel where an older carl looks up at a statue of rick grimes, discussing it being inaccurate the walking dead comic panel where an older carl looks up at a statue of rick grimes, discussing it being inaccurate 2 Walking Dead's carl, now an older man, looks back over his shoulder fondly.
carl reads to his daughter in walking dead's future

At the start of The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes is shot while working as a small town sheriff’s deputy. He wakes up a few weeks later to discover the world has gone to hell. Billions of people have died, and the world is now overrun by the shambling undead. Over the course of the comic’s 193 issues, Rick acclimatizes to this brutal new world, leading a group of survivors through a series of horrific experiences and finally playing a pivotal role in re-establishing human civilization, this time on a far more equal footing.

The final issue of the series is a flashforward to an adult Carl in the future, raising his daughter in a world where zombies are no longer an everyday concern (though some are still out there.) Rick dies in issue #192, shot down by the privileged Sebastian Milton, who resents his family’s loss of power after Rick managed to break their hold over the Commonwealth. His death echoes the first issue, as he’s gunned down only to rise again – this time as a zombie which is finally put to rest by Carl.

Throughout the series, some fans speculated that the ending would eventually reveal that Rick had never woken up from his coma and that the undead apocalypse was his mind’s way of processing his situation. The concept found purchase in several aspects of the franchise – especially the idea that the zombies were a metaphor for Rick’s own approaching death, turning his fight for survival into a metaphor for his attempts to recover and return to the real world.

The idea was far from impossible – horror properties like The Descent and Ghost Stories have put their own twists on this idea – however Kirkman makes it very clear he never considered erasing all The Walking Dead‘s character growth and world-changing events by having Rick simply wake up. However, that disappointing ending might have been preferable to his original plan…

Three blended images of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan in The Walking Dead

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Kirkman told his original ending to Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln and executive producer Greg Nicotero, who “were nice enough to pretend it was cool.”

Kirkman Intended Walking Dead to Have a Much Different Ending

The Series Almost Ended with the Zombies Wiping Out Humanity

 

the walking dead comic - a zombie walks past a statue of rick grimes Zombies as seen in The Walking Dead series finale distant shot of alexandria from walking dead walking dead's zombies bring down the gate of alexandria walking dead's rick shouts everyone get back walking dead's rick and negan lead fight against the zombiesthe walking dead comic - a zombie walks past a statue of rick grimes Zombies as seen in The Walking Dead series finale
distant shot of alexandria from walking dead walking dead's zombies bring down the gate of alexandria walking dead's rick shouts everyone get back walking dead's rick and negan lead fight against the zombies

In The Walking Dead Deluxe #84, Kirkman revealed that he initially planned for an incredibly bleak ending. The final issue would have come as a surprise (something which was eventually the case), and would have ended with Rick giving a rousing speech to the survivors. The moment would then have cut to the future, where Rick would be depicted in the same pose as a gigantic statue, suggesting that not only did the survivors win the day, but they reestablished society for long enough to remember Rick as a folk hero.

However, a zombie would then have stumbled past the statue, with a further zoom-out to show a desolate, post-apocalyptic society where only the zombies remain, suggesting that humanity still lost in the end. Kirkman explains, “So, we’d leave readers with the idea that no matter what people did… the zombies win. I know, right?”

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It’s a downer ending, and had the potential to leave fans feeling immensely cheated, given how much they’d invested in all the characters and their journey. Indeed, Kirkman noted that his originally planned ending was “bleak, sad… possibly terrible.” The only thing that saved fans from this ending was how flexible it was in terms of when Kirkman could deploy it. The planned time jump meant he could end the story whenever he wanted, only needing to put Rick in a situation where he was forced to give a climactic speech during a pitched battle. Kirkman recalls thinking, “Eh… I could do that any time.”

Kirkman was sure enough of this ending to tell Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln and the executive producer of the Walking Dead TV adaptation Greg Nicotero, who “were nice enough to pretend it was cool.” However, as he kept pushing the ending back and back, Kirkman eventually began to feel his planned finale wouldn’t be satisfying. However, if the comic had been less fun to write or other projects had been more demanding of his time, fans really might have gotten the ‘zombies win’ ending. In fact, that’s only one way in which the franchise was almost radically different.