After a horrifying killing scene in ‘The Waking Dead’ season seven premiere, producers sought to reduce the level of violence in the remaining episodes of the widely popular AMC series.
As stated by ‘The Walking Dead’ executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, the strong backlash of viewers over the killing of two major characters in the season seven premiere caused the team to make changes in the other episodes left in production when the season premiere aired on Oct. 23.
“We were able to look at the feedback on the level of violence,” Hurd explained during at a panel in the NATPE conference on Wednesday. “We did tone it down for episodes we were still filming for later on in the season.”
‘The Walking Dead’ season seven premiere ended with a prolonged scene that showed new villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) beating the blood and guts out of fan-favorite characters Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) with his barbed wire-covered baseball bat. According to critics, the gruesome visual elements combined with dreadful audio were too much, despite the award-winning show’s previous episodes that presented equally outrageous scenes.
Hurd clarified to the panel’s audience that the production team immediately responded to the issue, saying that they made sure they did not cross the line. She also noted that such reactions to ‘The Walking Dead’ season seven premiere brought to light the fans’ genuine feelings towards the show.
In addition, Hurd admitted that she is still in awe of how ‘The Walking Dead’ has become the top-ranked scripted show in cable or primetime. She said she never had such expectations when season one was only being made.
“We thought this will be a good solid double,” she said.
"The Walking Dead" season seven makes a comeback on Feb. 12, Sunday, at 9 p.m. EST on AMC.
