The new 'Walking Dead' clip hints at a big iconic moment from the comics and fans are freaking out
Warning: There are potential spoilers ahead for "The Walking Dead."
The INSIDER Summary:
• AMC released a new clip from season seven of "The Walking Dead."
• Fans think it's a tease for a scene from the comics where Rick loses his right hand.
• We don't think this will happen. Creator Robert Kirkman has addressed this in the past.
• We do think there will be a great nod to the comics.
AMC debuted a new clip from season seven of 'The Walking Dead" online this weekend and it sent fans into a frenzy.
The clip starts off after the season six cliffhanger finale where new antagonist Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) brutally killed at least one member of Rick's group. We see Rick with a giant splatter of blood on the right side of his face. While many started theorizing on who was killed and who is safe, other fans quickly started becoming less concerned with who was killed and more concerned about the state of the lead character's hand.
In the new clip, Negan goes off script from the comic and asks what kind of weapon Rick had on him. He's then given Rick's hatchet and is dragged by Negan like a rag doll into his RV.
As many have pointed out, the new clip released is called "Right Hand Man." While Negan is discussing how important it is to have a right hand man, the hand Rick winds up losing in the comics is indeed his right hand.
Fans immediately started freaking out online.
Comic readers know that Rick Grimes lost his right hand a long time ago in the zombie apocalypse. It was chopped off by the Governor during their first interaction.
However when the Governor came on the series back in season three, his time came and went and Rick has gone on for several more seasons with both of his hands.
While it would be a great twist on the show, ultimately, I don't think it's going to happen.
Creator Robert Kirkman has addressed and dismissed the idea several times
In the past, Kirkman has also spoken out about the practical difficulties of having a lead character like Rick lose his hand in the show multiple times.
He said on an episode of "The Writer's Room" it would "add a huge complication to the series and would amp the show's budget.
He also addressed it in a 2014 Reddit AMA.
"I think cutting Rick's hand off when we did was great for the comic," Kirkman told fans. "It's just that in another medium it would be harder to pull off. We cheat in the comic because things aren't moving. You can't do that on the show. You'd see Rick not being able to reload his gun and things like that."
He didn't completely rule it out though.
"The CGI of cutting off Rick's hand would be expensive, but we did it with Hershel's leg so if we felt strongly about Rick losing a hand, we'd do it," he added.
It's worth noting, the series is adding a completely CGI tiger to the show this season; however, unlike Rick, we don't expect it to be in a lot of scenes.
It seems out of character for Negan
I was as fearful for Rick's hand as any fan after immediately watching that clip, but after mulling it over I decided it didn't make sense. If you're familiar with Negan in the comics, it seems slightly out of character for him. While Negan doesn't mind becoming a man to be feared, when he sees someone as somewhat of an equal to him, he's not going to put them at a disadvantage right off the bat.
Negan is not a villain, though he appears one at the moment. I like to think of him as another version of Rick, leading his own group of survivors. Negan runs his show a little differently, but he does live by rules.
This was something that was mentioned at Comic Con's panel for the series Saturday when panel host Chris Hardwick asked Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Negan, whether Negan thinks he's a bad guy.
"From his point of view, this kind of snotty, arrogant group is running around, killing his people," said Hardwick.
"What he [Negan] is doing is essentially the same thing these guys have been doing for the last seven years," said Morgan. "He just happens to carry a baseball bat that he loves dearly. He's also a bit of a showman. This world is his stage and he owns it. You can call it cocky, but we've watched Rick and these guys kind of get cocky in the last seven years."
Plus, Negan needs Rick with both of his hands if he's using him and his crew to provide his group with food and supplies moving forward.
So what will happen in that RV scene?
I think Negan will come close to chopping off Rick's hand. Rick just told the guy that after everything that happened that he still plans to kill him. Negan definitely wants to strike some fear in Rick and let him know who's boss around these parts. I could definitely see Negan taking out Rick's hand and holding the hatchet to it and then tell him to lighten up and that he was joking. (That's just how Negan is.)
That way it would be a nice nod back to when Rick's hand was originally chopped off by the Governor back in season three.
Some rumors online suggest a slightly different scenario will go on involving Carl, but the outcome will be the same. Everyone leaves with their hands in tact. I'm not going to spoil what it could be here. There need to be some surprises, right?
We'll have to wait until the season seven premiere October 23 at 9 p.m. to hopefully find out the fate of Rick's hand along with Negan's victim.