Robert Kirkman wanted The Walking Dead show to kill off Rick early: 'It'll be funny!'

If The Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman got his way, Rick Grimes' TV journey would've looked very different — and ended much sooner.

The acclaimed comic book writer took over Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, in a panel moderated by Entertainment Weekly editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez. In addition to writing a whole host of iconic comic franchises, Kirkman has adapted several of his comics for the small screen — including The Walking Dead, Outcast, and Amazon's animated series Invincible.

Kirkman told Gomez that he treats every adaptation differently, but when he first got involved with The Walking Dead TV show, he was eager to deviate from the comic as much as possible — even if that meant killing off familiar heroes.

Kevin Winter/Getty EW's editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez and Robert Kirkman at Comic-Con 2023

"With Walking Dead, I was much younger and much more reckless," Kirkman told the audience. "I was an absolute lunatic. I would get in the writers' room and be like, 'Kill Rick Grimes today! I don't care! It'll be funny! People will freak out, and it'll be fun!' The writers were like, 'Robert, you're crazy. We can't do that.' But any time there were big changes in The Walking Dead, that's what excited me."

Instead, Rick survived to the very end of the original AMC series. Though Andrew Lincoln left the show in season 9 after Rick blew up a bridge full of walkers and was last seen being taken away in a CRM helicopter, he appeared in the series finale and is set to reprise the role in the upcoming spin-off show The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Lincoln will star alongside Michonne actress Danai Gurira, and the series will debut in 2024. (In the comics, however, Rick wasn't so lucky, and Kirkman killed the character off in 2019.)

AMC Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes on 'The Walking Dead'

Speaking Saturday, Kirkman also opened up about the upcoming second season of Invincible, teasing that the gory animated show will feature plenty of "insanity" in its next installments. Also, unlike his original plans for The Walking Dead show, he plans to stick slightly closer to the original Invincible comics.

"The overall arc of the story will follow the guideposts that are set in the comics," Kirkman explained. "So, if there's anything from the Invincible comics that you're dying to see, or if there's a hallmark moment that you'd love to see translated with motion and sound, you're probably going to see it. I don't want to say I've learned my lesson, but I've learned my lesson."

Earlier in the week, Kirkman unveiled the first trailer for Invincible season 2, as well as a standalone origin story for Gillian Jacobs' Atom Eve (which premiered overnight on Prime Video). Invincible will debut Nov. 3.

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