The Walking Dead Season Four Will Pull More From The Comics Than Season Three

After a season in which the series veered radically away from the comic book source material, series creator Robert Kirkman and showrunner Scott Gimple told TV Guide yesterday that the show's upcoming fourth season--at which fans will get their first look this weekend at Comic-Con--will feature some of the most closely-adapted sequences in the show's history. "Comic book fans that think the show has steered away from the comics completely will be pleasantly surprised by Season 4. Honestly, some of the closest adaptations of the comic have happened thus far is in Season 4. There are some very cool things that are told in the comics that... are adapted almost directly, which I usually frown upon. But Scott Gimple is able to talk me into things from time to time," Kirkman said in the interview. "The dynamic is usually Scott going 'Wait, no! This is in the comics was cool,' and me going 'No! I'm bored with that! Let's do something new.' He's won over a couple of times in Season 4. There will be some things that will be directly pulled from the comics that start creeping in very early in Season 4. I think comic book fans don't know what to expect which is the best possible place to be in." For his part, Gimple told the magazine that he goes back to the comic whenever he can. "I think it's something I've always done and something I've always striven to do," said Gimple. "Some of the moments I've written on the show that I felt really, really psyched about, like Sophia coming out of the barn or Rick on the phone in the episode 'Hounded,' are kind of from the comic book. Sophia never came out of the barn in the comic book, but Hershel's family came out of the barn. It affected Hershel the same way as it did on the show. The way I always approached it is that it's a remix of the comic book. It's taking great stuff and, because we have departed from the comic book in so many ways, being true to the moments, but in different ways. As a fan, it can be really exciting because you recognize it and you know it, but it's in a way that will surprise you and you wouldn't see coming."