The Walking Dead fandom has barely wavered even amid the ups and downs of killed off characters and cast changes. Producer and co-creator Robert Kirkman is grateful for his hit show’s devoted fan base; after all, he’s become a major player in the areas of sci-fi and horror due in large part to them.
But he still has one major hang-up with diehard followers of the show, and that is their constant pitching, mainly of character ideas. Kirkman has payed some attention to each one, and noticed a pattern of obvious inspiration in most cases.
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“They’ll come up to me and they’ll say ‘I’ve got this great idea for a character,'” Kirkman revealed in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “And they’ll go into this like, huge description of all the ins and outs of this character, and like five minutes into it I start noticing that they’re, you know, describing themself, and attributes that they clearly have. And then at the end of it, they always say ‘And…I would be perfect for this character.’ And I’m talking, like, conventions, sometimes on Twitter. Like, people that are not actors, that have never acted before in their lives. It’s just…why do they do that? I don’t know, but that one I wish would stop because so many people do it. It’s crazy.”
Kirkman had more to say about social media and its role in the dissemination of fan theories. In particular, he sees an amazingly high number of fans have the same idea about Andrew Lincoln’s character, Rick Grimes.
“Every week someone comes up with a brilliant idea of Rick Grimes is in a coma, and this is all a dream,” Kirkman added. “I love it because someone comes at it like it’s a new idea. I love the fan interaction. Being able to decipher that feedback, to see what people are saying, is a gift.”
The Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Alanna Masterson, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The series returns for its ninth season in October.