Scott Gimple Teases A Huge Departure From The Walking Dead Comics

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 7 Episodes 4 and 5 follow.

The Walking Dead set the stage for several major comic book storylines with its two most recent episodes.

While most of Season 7 has followed individual groups on a per episode basis, the next few episodes will likely see more than one group's perspective in each as we have learned the status of each group following Negan's introduction. It is time for some of the iconic scenes from the March to War and All Out War storylines to be realized on television -- assuming the TV show continues to follow the graphic novels.

According to showrunner Scott Gimple, The Walking Dead just might see some major differences by comparison to the events of the comics.

"This could be a huge departure from the book," Gimple said. "This could be it. There might not be a rebellion. I wouldn't want to say that there absolutely will be one, but I would also say it's not a crazy thing to posit that. As far as anything that could possibly move him towards that, if that even were to happen, this is definitely a wait and see."

Of course, Gimple likely doesn't want to give away when Rick will finally start to rebuild his confidence and rally the communities against the Saviors. While the showrunner doesn't want to spill any details, he does admit Robert Kirkman's graphic novels are still "the basis" for what's to come on the AMC series.

"The comic is absolutely the basis for the story moving forward and I've always followed the belief of following the story from the book," Gimple said. "That said, accentuating it in places and extrapolating things that are maybe even just mentioned in the book, playing them out even more fully, and then taking different elements from the book and sort of assigning them to different places really just to bring about some of the feelings and reactions I had when I initially read the book."

Gimple explains that the changes are in service to preserve the experience of reading the book for the first time.

MORE WALKING DEAD:

Negan's Five Most Outrageous Lines In 'Service' / Eugene And Rosita Love Story Ahead? / Danai Gurira On Michonne Filling Key Comic Book Role / Andrew Lincoln And Norman Reedus Get New Contracts / What Did Michonne Find? / Major Comic Storylines Set Up In 'Go Getters' / Is Chandler Riggs Leaving The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.