Where Was ‘The Walking Dead’s F-Word?

Despite a new policy allowing AMC’s zombie shows to utilize the “f-dash-dash-dash word” twice per season, The Walking Dead season 8 never dropped an F-bomb.

Not even Negan, whose every other word is “f—k” in Robert Kirkman’s comic book series, got to say it. (His colorful dialogue tends to lean more towards various uses of “sh—t” and genitalia-related euphemisms in the TV series.)

Its counterpart, Fear The Walking Dead, nonchalantly dropped its first in episode 3×12 (courtesy of Frank Dillane’s Nick Clark), and again in 3×16 when Madison (Kim Dickens) scolded Nick with a well-placed “f—k you.”

ComicBook.com was the first to report about AMC’s new policy allowing F-word usage twice per season, with Fear The Walking Dead season 3 showrunner Dave Erickson telling us:

“You get a specific number of curse words you can say, and then there’s a list of what you can and can’t do,” Erickson said. “I think it was our script coordinator who told me there was an email had come up; there had been a memo saying we could now say ‘f—k’ twice over the course of an entire season.”

“I don’t know at what point AMC corporate decided to allow it,” Erickson said, “but they did.”

It was assumed The Walking Dead would follow suit and drop its first uncensored F-word over the course of season 8, but the anticipated moment never came.

The Walking Dead‘s contemporaries — past and present AMC series Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Preacher, Better Call Saul — have already waded into that territory, with Bob Odenkirk’s crooked lawyer from the latter series going so far as to call someone a “pig f—ker.”

So why no F-word this season?

We thought we’d get one as soon as episode 8×01, after Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln told us of a scene early on in season 8 that saw Rick opening fire towards Negan and the Sanctuary:

“I only did one take where I didn’t swear on the countdown,” Lincoln said.

“I just went, ’10, 9, 8, 7… ah, f—k it,’ and then started shooting. That must be the only take that I didn’t swear so I think that it’s important everybody knows that, in my head, I was saying ‘f—k it!’ just as I fired the gun at Negan. With every shot.”

The episode as aired didn’t include what would have been a delicious usage of the word, a moment that, with any luck, will end up on the Blu-ray and DVD.

Rick dropped an uncensored F-word in the season 4 finale, included on the season 4 Blu-ray, where Rick’s as-aired “they’re screwing with the wrong people” became a more comic book accurate “they’re f—king with the wrong people.”

Norman Reedus’ Daryl got an uncensored alternate take of his own with 5×06, “Consumed,” where he told Melissa McBride’s Carol: “f—k the way it was.”

Rick went uncensored again in an alternate scene from 6×10, also included on the home release of that season, where an out-of-patience Rick said of newcomer Jesus (Tom Payne): “no, f—k this guy.”

The season 6 Blu-ray also boasted an uncensored edition of its season finale where Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, in his first appearance, dropped the F-word 23 times.

Fans wanting to add more “f—ks” to their Walking Dead can hope scenes featuring uncensored swearing make it onto season 8’s Blu-ray and DVD release, hitting store shelves sometime ahead of The Walking Dead‘s season 9 premiere later this year.