Robert Kirkman Says People Gotsta Die On The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is founded upon the principle of its characters being in constant danger and at any moment a key player could be killed off.

Though the series has slightly gone off track with it's "Nobody's safe" rule in its fake-out death of season six, the show's writer and creator claims that it is something the series has to hold on to. "Coming from the comic, I wrote the comic for like 8 years before the show existed. Like I always said, 'People gotsta die.' You never want to lose that," Robert Kirkman said on Inside the Actors Studio.

"If you go too long a period with characters surviving and being safe you lose that element of 'Oh my god, these characters could go at any moment,'" Kirkman continued. "That's a tremendously powerful engine that drives this thing and it's very emotional but in comics it's me and the artist going, 'I guess those lines in the paper don't exist anymore. Oh, well.' It's very emotional for us because we do love these characters but it doesn't have that added element that the TV show has where these are our friends that we see everyday but it doesn't stop us. We don't care."

Do you think "No one is safe," still truly applies to The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead cast will appear on Inside the Actors Studio on February 11 at 8 PM ET just days prior to The Walking Dead's Valentine's Day return on AMC.