The Walking Dead Remixes a Rick Grimes Comic Plot With Lydia in Season 10 Episode 4

Comic book scenes belonging to Rick Grimes were remixed and loosely adapted in The Walking Dead 10x04, "Silence the Whisperers." There Alexandria is vandalized with graffiti meant to torment ex-Whisperer Lydia (Cassady McClincy), targeted over the actions of her mother, cult leader Alpha (Samantha Morton). At night, Lydia is cornered and then assaulted by bullies Margo (Jerri Tubbs), Alfred (David Shae), and Gage (Jackson Pace) as revenge for the deaths of Highwaymen Ozzy (Angus Sampson) and Alek (Jason Kirkpatrick) and Hilltop members Henry (Matt Lintz), Rodney (Joe Ando Hirsh) and Addy (Kelley Mack). The attack only ends when Margo suffers a fatal head injury after she's pulled away from Lydia by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

In The Walking Dead #150, Alexandria leader Rick is attacked by Morton Rose, husband of Tammy Rose, who was one of a dozen victims slaughtered by the Whisperers. Rick is savagely beaten by Morton, furious over Rick's inaction against this new enemy.

The second hooded figure is revealed to be Vincent, whose son, Josh, was a victim of the Whisperers. Vincent tackles Morton to prevent him from murdering Rick, who they were only supposed to scare. Rick then sinks his teeth into Morton's throat, killing him. Morton's death was given to Joe (Jeff Kober) of the Claimers in TWD's Season 4 finale, "A."

In "Silence the Whisperers," Gage similarly freezes when witnessing Margo and Alfred's violent attack on Lydia. After some pushing from Margo, Gage participates in the beating when Lydia says she loved Henry.

Margo's death is similar to the comic book death of Sherry, wife of Dwight. In The Walking Dead #166, an unhinged Sherry attacks and overpowers Rick after demanding the Saviors' divorce from his allied communities. As Sherry chokes Rick, he shoves her away, accidentally breaking Sherry's neck on the corner of an overturned table.

"We're all so inspired by the comics. [Creator Robert Kirkman] is such a master of the page-turner. You read it and it's like a juicy, juicy, just fun comic book to read. There's so many wonderful, iconic moments in the comics," showrunner Angela Kang said at PaleyFest LA in March when explaining deviations from the comic books. "Moments you get to and just say, 'Oh my God, I can't believe he just did that. I have to see this on screen!' As writers, as with any fans of the comics, we have those same responses. But with the show we have such a different array of characters and such different circumstances that it's never going to be exactly the comic, nor should it be. It's a different medium."

She continued, "So what's really fun is to go, here's that amazing moment in the comic and here's how it made us feel. Now, how do we capture that feeling, even if the way you get to it is not literally the same way that the comic book got to it?"

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.