NBC wanted to make The Walking Dead but, feature the show without zombies.
AMC's The Walking Dead is a hit. It's the most popular show on television and the show many aspiring actors dream of landing a role on. But, without zombies it wouldn't be The Walking Dead. However, that's exactly what NBC executives were aiming for when they were considering picking up the show nearly a decade ago.
Fans getting ready for the premiere of Season 7 of The Walking Dead on October 23 have a lot to be excited about but, it could have gone down an incredibly different path had NBC executives had their hands on the project. Both NBC and HBO were looking to adapt Rober Kirkman and Tony Moore's Image comic book back in the day but NBC had some strange changes in mind.
According to Variety, executive producer Gale Anne Hurd revealed what NBC wanted.
Before the show was picked up by AMC for domestic and Fox for international, its creator Frank Darabont presented the first version of the script to NBC, with whom he had an overall deal. According to Hurd, their response was, “Do there have to be zombies [in it].” NBC then asked Darabont if the show could be a procedural in which the two main protagonists would “solve a zombie crime of the week,” she said.
That's right a “zombie crime of the week.”
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