As is often the case with book adaptations, there are always points in a show’s journey when the show deviates from the source material by taking creative liberties with the source material. Sometimes these changes work out for the better, while others leave fans scratching their heads and wondering what went wrong. This is something The Walking Dead fans know all too well.
Through the show’s eleven-season run, The Walking Dead took more than a few creative liberties with Robert Kirkman’s original comics. Some of these changes, such as introducing new characters or altering the fates of certain characters, worked out for the better. Others, though, robbed fans of the opportunity to see beloved storylines play out on-screen. No one knows this better than Laurie Holden, whose character Andrea Harrison met a very different end than in the comics.
While, like in the show, Andrea dies a heartbreaking death in the comics, her death comes further down the line in the comics’ run after many beautiful moments for the character, including her marriage to Rick Grimes and the opportunity to see the character grow in confidence. The show took a big swing in deviating from the source material by killing Andrea in season 3, and that decision is one that still does not sit well with Laurie Holden.
"Listen, hindsight’s 20/20, and I’m grateful for the journey that I had, and I like that at least I died with my dignity, with my friends, and I think that’s a nice beautiful closure. However, I do wish that the TV show had followed more of the comic book because I think that there was some wonderful storytelling in there and great narrative, especially for my character," Holden told fans at Union Conventions' From Atlanta to Paris 2 event.
For Holden, the root of the issue came with The Walking Dead’s showrunner at the time, Glen Mazzara, not being familiar with the source material. This lack of understanding of her journey and what fans loved about the comic took the show off the rails, and Holden still to this day wishes the show was pure to the narrative of Kirkman’s comic.
“The person in charge that year had never read the comic, and so I don’t think he really understood how far off the rails he was going in terms of what I think the fans really loved,” she continued. “Mind you there’s a lot of beautiful things that Scott Gimple and Angela Kang have done since then and fabulous storytelling. I just think in terms of me and my own journey; I wish that it had followed more of a pure route—pure to the narrative that Robert Kirkman wrote.”
Laurie Holden has called out showrunner Glen Mazzara before about Andrea’s Walking Dead death
Holden’s comments at From Atlanta to Paris 2 convention were not the first, and will likely not be the last, time she has expressed her displeasure with how the show handled Andrea’s storyline.
Back in 2017, Holden made her displeasure in Andrea’s storyline in the show known during an appearance at Walker Stalker Con, voicing similar frustrations.
“I think the departure from book Andrea to the screen was a mistake. I mean, it's not like I couldn't pull it off. I think the whole stuff that they wrote about Andrea and the Governor was complete and utter nonsense," she told fans in attendance at the Walker Stalker Con in Philadelphia. "I did the best that I could to tell that narrative and to justify it where Andrea kept her heart. I love [showrunner] Scott Gimple for giving me a gorgeous death with redemption so that you understood, and she wasn't a victim—she died on her own terms. But I think that there was so much beautiful narrative that was lost and that she should have been there a long time and been the leader that [Robert] Kirkman created in the comic book."
Considering that Holden was reportedly signed on for an eight-season deal and Andrea is a much bigger character in the comics, we understand Holden’s ongoing frustrations with the direction the show took. Andrea’s death was done for shock value to show that fans shouldn’t just expect the show to follow the comics.
While we understand wanting to take creative liberties to keep fans from getting too comfortable, it’s a shame that Andrea had to be the sacrificial lamb, so to speak.
Add us as a preferred source on Google