Robert Kirkman Says His Insights Into ‘The Walking Dead’ Characters Are Lies

During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman joked that he often doesn’t know his characters as well as the actors who play them.

“Do you find that [the actors] come to you and want answers that only you can provide as the person who created these characters?” Meyers asked.

“I’ve written this comic book for 170 issues, so you would think I know every character, I know the ins and outs of every character — I don’t,” Kirkman answered. “And when you’re an actor, you get cast as a character, you want to read their back story, you want to know every little thing about them, and they actually know all of these characters way better than I ever could.”

Kirkman, who has served as sole writer on the comic book since 2003, admitted he goes along with some harmless fibbing — a result of not being able to keep up with every specific detail from his long running comic book, which will soon release issue #173.

“So they’ll come up to me on set and they’ll say, ‘Hey, so, I know the comics and the show are different, but I was reading issue 39 and on page 14 I say this thing, what did you mean when you had my character say that?’ And I just make stuff up,” Kirkman said. “‘Cause I never remember the scene they were talking about. ‘Oh, you know, you were really worried about this other character.’ Because you don’t want them to know that you’ve forgotten, seems rude.”

“Oh, no, lying is obviously the kind thing to do,” Meyers joked.

“It’s the best, just the best,” Kirkman retorted.

Earlier this month, Kirkman himself announced AMC’s two live-action shows based on his works — The Walking Dead and original creation Fear The Walking Dead — would be crossing over, teasing what he calls “a huge event in the world of The Walking Dead.”

The Walking Dead just launched its action-packed eighth season last Sunday with the series’ 100th episode. AMC’s hit zombie drama airs Sundays at 9/8c.