Warning: The following contains spoilers for last week’s episode of The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead has certainly deviated from its source material in the past. But viewers can be finicky when the show doesn’t faithfully translate major events from the comic book series. One such change happened last weekend when 10 characters met their grisly end after the Whisperers decapitated them and displayed their severed heads on pikes for the remaining survivors to find. Although this moment came directly from issue #144 of the comic, the victims themselves were a bit different this time. During an interview with Digital Spy, executive producer Denise Huth offered insight into why two specific cast members were spared.
In the comics, Rosita and King Ezekiel were among the zombified heads found by Rick Grimes, Carl, and Lydia. However, their TV counterparts will live to see this weekend’s season finale. According to Huth, Rosita was shown mercy because the producers wanted to continue developing her current storyline.
“One of the reasons that I was really happy Rosita didn’t end up on a spike is that she’s pregnant,” Huth said. “That’s a huge element, that she’s in this relationship with Father Gabriel and has this great friendship with Siddiq and Eugene. It is an interesting dynamic to see how that plays out. That’s a very modern post-apocalyptic family, I guess.”
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“I’m curious to see her become a mother, you know,” continued Huth. “The character of Rosita has always been really strong and somewhat independent, and to be responsible for somebody else’s life, a life that is as vulnerable as a child, it will be very interesting for her. It will change her in a lot of ways. I’m really excited to see how we’re going to play that out.”
Meanwhile, Ezekiel is going to have to come to grips with the death of his and Carol’s adopted son, Henry.
“We’ve seen him evolve quite a bit from when he was first introduced,” said Huth. “Losing Henry is significant, and the fact that he was able to take care of Henry for so long – I think there’s a lot of room there to explore the different side of Ezekiel, who is a highly positive king, who thinks and believes truly that everything can work out. I’m very curious to see how he and Carol together and as individuals respond to this huge, huge loss.”
The Walking Dead‘s season finale airs Sunday night at 9pm on AMC. You can share your thoughts on Huth’s remarks in the comment section below!
