'The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman Explains Why There Aren't Many Animals On The Show

Through eight seasons of The Walking Dead, the AMC zombie drama has left animals mostly out of the mix because of the difficulty working with them.

The show and its comic book source material creator Robert Kirkman was asked by a fan aboard the Walker Stalker Cruise why more animals aren't chowing down on corpses or being eaten by survivors and was surprisingly candid in his responde. "Well, animals don't really behave on set, so that's one thing," Kirkman said. "I mean, we've had animals here and there but I guess maybe there's not as much as we probably should. We'll get some CGI dogs, next time."

The comment about CGI dogs, despite there being real gods on the show in its previous seasons, prompted Walker Stalker head James Frazier who was hosting the panel to mention a previous infamous CGI animal. "We all saw that CGI deer," Frazier reminded Kirkman, referencing the poorly added deer in the show's seventh season as Rick and Michonne visited an abandoned carnival.

"Not cool, man!" Kirkman lauged. "Not cool. We worked so hard on that deer, you have no idea."

Frazier isn't the only one taking playful jabs at that unforgettable CGI deer, lately. During the Super Bowl, Skybound's The Walking Dead Twitter account took a shot at the deer by comparing it to the 2005-era Madden graphics NBC had used to show off the big game's athletes.

Sheesh our CGI deer looked better than this #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/KHZiMJ7zsu

— The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) February 5, 2018

Deer or no deer, the show managed to impressively bring Ezekiel's tiger Shiva to computerized life for a handful of episodes before she was devastatingly devoured early in Season Eight. Certainly, the exciting effects were no easy or overnight feat for the show's post-production team.

The Walking Dead returns for the second half of its eighth season on February 25, 2018. Fear the Walking Dead will debut its fourth season after The Walking Dead concludes its eighth, at 10 pm ET on April 15. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.