Andrew Lincoln "bullied everybody" to allow Rick Grimes his iconic comic moment

The Walking Dead series is based on the comic created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. While the main series often followed the comic story it took many liberties in creating its own story, sometimes ignoring moments fans wanted to see. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premiere episode finally gave many fans a shocking moment in Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) story they have longed to see played out on screen.

This article contains spoilers forThe Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1, episode 1, "Years."

In Issue #28 of The Walking Dead comic, Rick was captured by the Governor, who was much more sadistic compared to the series version (played by David Morrissey), and he felt the need to let Rick feel the gravity of the situation. He did so by sawing off his hand with a knife. This was teased in TWD series during season 7, episode 1, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," when Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) turned things around and was going to force Rick to cut off his son Carl (Chander Riggs) hand instead. Rick begged to change places with his son, but Negan forced Rick to bow to his wishes instead.

In the debut episode of The Ones Who Live, the series doesn't hold back, and Rick chops off his arm to escape the clutches of the Civic Republic Military (CRM). It is an insane scene as viewers see him hesitate and then lop off the limb with an axe. In another gnarly move, he cauterizes the wound with the fire burning inside a walker. It was a fantastic way to begin this series.

Fans who loved seeing this comic story come to life have Andrew Lincoln to thank. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Scott M. Gimple shared that while he had toyed with the idea, Lincoln was the one who pushed it.

"“I played around with the idea but didn't commit to it through all sorts of iterations of the story. But it was Andy that pushed it. Andy was the one to bring it across the goal line.”"

- Scott M. Gimple

Lincoln admitted that he did push the storyline and has since The Walking Dead but The Ones Who Live was the perfect opportunity to see Rick make another huge sacrifice proving how determined he is to return to his family.

"“I just bullied everybody into submission. And there were quite a lot of conversations, particularly with AMC, with people going, ‘Now Andy, we love the idea, but are you really sure about this?’ But I just thought: This is the time to do what the comic book did and honor that. I've been trying to pitch this for years, and everybody was just shouting me down.”"

- Andrew Lincoln

While it was a fantastic scene, Rick's attempt to break free of the CRM, for the third time, fails, and he is recaptured. But this likely saved his life and gave him a badass prosthetic arm with a retractible knife that has already proved quite useful.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live airs new episodes weekly on Sunday on AMC and AMC+, with the finale airing on March 31.

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