Why Rick Grimes never lost his hand like in The Walking Dead comics

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading The Walking Dead comics by Robert Kirkman, you know that the AMC show made a lot of tweaks and changes. When I first started reading the comics, I couldn’t believe how many things were different, especially when it comes to characters.

One such difference is the fact that, in the comics, Rick Grimes loses a hand. And he loses it pretty early on: in Issue 28, thanks to the Governor. As a punishment for not revealing the location of their camp, the Governor lobs it off himself.

If you were to ask me who I thought was scarier between the Governor and Negan, I think my vote would still go to the Governor, who was played by David Morrissey on the show. Negan started off frightening, but he’s mellowed since then. But the Governor’s evil streak never went away, and he still haunts me to this day.

On the series, however, Rick never lost his hand. Yes, the Governor was still very much a thorn in their side and they had to fight tooth and nail against him, but things didn’t get quite this bad.

The decision to change that story wasn’t made lightly. Even Andrew Lincoln fought for his character to lose the limb. But with all the intricacies of production, it was just too difficult to incorporate into the show. So Rick Grimes got to keep both his hands, much to Kirkman’s dismay.

But the series still paid homage to the whole ordeal, like in the season 7 premiere, right after Negan brutally killed Abraham and Glenn. (Ugh, that one still hurts.) Rick was in a bad place, and Negan tried to rub it in by getting him to cut off Carl’s hand. Rick begged and pleaded for Negan to take his hand instead. Negan, satisfied that Rick was sufficiently cowed, let everyone walk away with their parts intact.

And then there’s Aaron, who lost his arm in season 9 when it was crushed under a log. Perhaps that was The Walking Dead’s way of honoring Rick’s loss in the comics. Aaron kind of got a raw deal, though.

And hey, while Rick didn’t lose his hand in the show, there’s still a chance that he could lose it in the upcoming movies! So…look forward to that…?

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h/t ScreenRant