Michael Cudlitz talks Easter eggs for The Walking Dead comic fans

MIchael Cudlitz likes the idea that comic readers get little gifts from the writers that reward them for being fans of The Walking Dead graphic novels.

The Walking Dead has mastered the art of creating a series based on graphic novels that has become wildly successful without following the comics faithfully. Often when screen adaptations of source material make changes, readers are not pleased.

With The Walking Dead, fans of the show seem to love the twists and surprises that have come from trading characters, switching deaths, adding people and all of the other modifications the writers have made.

Michael Cudlitz talked with PopSugar about that very thing and mentioned the idea that fans of the graphic novels get little presents every time something from the comics happens, even if it doesn’t happen exactly the way it happened in the books.

Dr. Denise took the arrow that Abraham took in the comics recently giving comic fans one of these little gifts.

"Well, [Robert] Kirkman was never happy with the death Abraham had in the graphic novels. He always said it was sort of a last-minute decision and that he regretted how he took him out. I think transferring that specific death of the crossbow arrow through the eye to Denise was sort of an Easter egg for the audience who follow the graphic novels. They know what that death should have been, but there’s also nothing lost on the television audience by not knowing that. It was a little gift just for them."

Michael also mentioned something that resulted from changing that death that I hadn’t thought of for comic readers. No matter what happens in the line up, comic readers have now experienced a world where Negan and Abraham are alive at the same time and facing each other.

"Now we get to see what a world with Negan and Abraham both in it will be like. That’s something we don’t see in the graphic novels. So a lot of cool stuff happens. For me, knowing that his potential death had come and gone, it was a moment to go, “Oh cool, they really aren’t going to stick with what the graphic novel does.” As a fan of both the novel and the show, it was cool."

MIchael expressed his joy in playing Abraham for one of the reasons that we love his character–his vocabulary!

"He’s just so much fun! I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have done a lot of different characters on a lot of different projects, but this is the most consistent fun that I’ve had. I can’t wait to get the script each week to see what thing is going to come out of this dude’s mouth next. I love it."

Next: MIchael Cudlitz is not a fan of spoilers

Just think, if Abraham had died by Dwight’s arrow, we wouldn’t have had the expression “bitch nuts”! And that would be a real shame!