Five Times People Said The Walking Dead Went Too Far

The Walking Dead has been the topic of controversy lately but that’s nothing new for the AMC series. Part of what got fans hooked when the zombie drama premiered in 2010 was it’s ruthless willingness to shock its audience with violence and heartbreak.

With The Walking Dead‘s producers sharing conflicting accounts to the show’s approach to violence going forward, fans have been debating whether or not the AMC series should keep its violent tone. Most commonly, comment sections are filled with votes for maintaining the same violence as seen through six and a half seasons.

This is hardly the first time The Walking Dead‘s violence has made headlines, though. People, clearly not the fans of the series, have found things to complain about or say “The Walking Dead went too far” about many times in through 91 episodes.

On the following slides, we take a look at five of those moments.

You Are It

Negan’s introduction was so brutal that it prompted one producer to say The Walking Dead will tone down the violence going forward.

Glenn and Abraham’s brains were exposed by the baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire which Negan likes to call Lucille. It was arguably the most graphic content the show has packed and pushed the limits of television, even if it airs late on Sunday nights.

Still, the moment was integral to The Walking Dead‘s storyline, making Negan’s presence truly known and rocking the landscape of the show seven years in.

Look at the Flowers

Killing kids is always going to be controversial, no matter what show you’re watching. The Walking Dead dove in and crafted one of its most iconic moments when it sent off Lizzie and Mika. 

Lizzie went off the deep end in her lust for undead, killing her own little sister in hopes of showing the people around her that the undead are still people. It was a problem Carol and Tyreese couldn’t risk keeping around for their own safety.

Carol instructed Lizzie to “look at the flowers” and shot her in the back of the head. It’s a moment that sends chills down the spines of The Walking Dead‘s most hardcore fans.

The Barn

Sticking with this whole killing kids thing, The Walking Dead has never been shy to the concept. It’s the harsh world the show is set in!

Much of Season 2 was built around a search for Sophia, who had gone missing in the season’s first episode. For its midseason finale, Hershel’s barn full of walkers was emptied but an all-but-insane Shane Walsh and Sophia stumbled out after the rest of the herd had been put down.

Rick Grimes had to shoot down a reanimated Sophia in front of her own mother.

Happy Birthday

Sure, The Walking Dead has killed kids, but sometimes the kids have to kill adults and it’s even more tragic and shocking. 

Lori’s death was shocking partially because it made the episode a double whammy for core character deaths. It came quickly on the heels of T-Dog sacrificing himself to save Carol. 

However, the thing that got people talking was the manner in which Lori was sent off. First, Maggie had to cut open Lori’s stomach to carve baby Judith out of her and then Carl, her son, had to shoot her in the head to prevent reanimation. It was off-screen but it was heartbreaking.

In fact, the scene elected to alter Lori’s death from the comics in a major way. In the comics, Lori was shot while holding her baby and fell forward, on top of Judith, killing them both on the same pages. This might have been too much for TV to handle.

Nom Nom Noah

Of all the zombie kills, poor Noah had the most brutal sendoff of any core character.

The character found himself trapped in a revolving door and pushed against the glass by a herd of zombies. Glenn looked on, hopelessly, as Noah’s shoulder and face were ripped from his body by the hungry bunch of zombies. Blood spattered against the glass and Noah screamed in terror.