Deleted Walking Dead Scenes That Would Have Changed Everything
AMC's "The Walking Dead" is a hugely popular franchise. Based on the comic book series of the same name, "The Walking Dead" follows Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group made up of other survivors as they fight zombies (known as walkers) and dangerous humans alike. The series has lasted for 10 seasons already, with the final season slated to premiere in 2022. However, the franchise will live on in different formats, including the spinoff show "Fear the Walking Dead" and future film projects.
While "The Walking Dead" has stayed pretty close to its source material through the years, there have been plenty of changes, whether due to logistical reasons or censorship issues. Thankfully, most of the deleted and altered scenes can easily be found in the DVD extras and on YouTube — but we went ahead and gathered some of the best of the left-out scenes that would've completely changed the show if they'd been left in.
Rick Grimes cursing
"The Walking Dead" comic books were much grittier than the TV adaptation, mainly in the foul language department. For example, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is famously potty-mouthed in the comics — which adds to his harsh demeanor — though he's much tamer on the show. But the deleted scene we'll be looking at now has to do with another character's cursing — or lack thereof. In the final episode of Season 4, Rick motivates his team by saying the citizens of Terminus are "screwing with the wrong people."
The original line (as also depicted in the comic) was "they're f***ing with the wrong people." Many fans have commented on the hypocritical censorship when it comes to certain aspects of the show, like how there are extreme levels of violence and gore, yet survivors of a zombie apocalypse hardly ever curse. If the producers had been able to add some more realistic dialogue in the show, it would have made their situation feel that much more intense and stressful.
Foreshadowing Lizzie's downfall
One of the most upsetting storylines in "The Walking Dead" was that of the young sisters Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) and Mika (Kyla Kenedy). Lizzie seemed to suffer some kind of psychotic break — likely due to living through the zombie apocalypse — and her actions got more and more disturbing as the show went on. She believed that walkers were misunderstood, and she often tried to prove it by playing with them, naming them, and trying to communicate with them. She also killed small animals and even tried to feed live mice to walkers, adding to her troubled personality.
Things took a turn for the worse in Season 4 Episode 14, "The Grove." In the latter half of the episode, Lizzie stabbed Mika to death — she believed that Mika would reanimate as a "friendly" zombie. Carol (Melissa McBride) and Tyreese (Chad Coleman) ultimately decided that they had to kill Lizzie to protect any other people from being hurt by her. However, there was a deleted scene from the same episode that further depicted Lizzie's state of mind.
When Tyreese and his group were traveling through the woods, he spotted a dead body in the trees. He came up with a game to distract Mika and Lizzie from the disturbing scene which involved them closing their eyes. However, Lizzie opened her eyes and was unbothered by the corpse. In fact, she took it upon herself to take the empty baby carrier that was still on the body to use as a backpack. While the rest of the group (including Mika) looked on in horror while they realized what probably happened to the infant, Lizzie looked absolutely unfazed. Her lack of remorse for the dead was a clear foreshadowing of the awful events that happened later in the episode.
A heartbreaking alternate timeline
Season 7 featured some of the most brutal deaths in the entire run of "The Walking Dead." Not only were Abraham's (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn's (Steven Yeun) deaths horribly sad, but they were especially gruesome. But before Negan and the Saviors arrived, it seemed like Alexandria had the potential to serve as a secure home for the group — of course, we quickly learned that wasn't the case.
A deleted scene from the Season 7 premiere featured a heartbreaking daydream sequence showing an alternate world in which Alexandria was their final safe haven. While the actual episode showed Rick imagining his entire group years into the future — including Abraham and Glenn — seated around a dinner table, the scene was originally much longer. It showed the group happily living in what could have been a peaceful Alexandria, with much more casual clothing (no need for zombie armor), Glenn and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) alive with their baby boy, and Abraham also alive, sitting with a pregnant Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green). Just thinking about what could have been had the Saviors not come and ruined everything is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Lori turned into a walker
In Season 3, Rick's wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) was heavily pregnant. After the group ended up in an abandoned prison, her fear of an impending group of walkers kicked her labor into gear, and she was forced to give birth right then and there. Maggie and Carl (Chandler Riggs) helped deliver the baby, but sadly, Lori died in labor and Carl had to kill his mother to prevent her from turning into a zombie herself. Lori's death sent Rick into a spiral, which is where the next deleted scene comes into play.
In Episode 10 of Season 3, we saw a short (and terribly sad) scene where Rick saw a vision of his recently deceased wife. While we only saw Rick hallucinate a loving reunion with his wife, the full scene took a much different turn. It continued on with Rick and Lori starting to kiss, before Rick pulled away only to see his wife suddenly transformed into a half-decomposed walker. The scene in its entirety would've changed the whole moment from heartbreaking to creepy and pretty gross, so we'd say it was better left short.
The truth about the Vatos
In Season 1, Rick and his group met some survivors sheltering in a nursing home in Atlanta — Guillermo (Neil Brown Jr.) and the Vatos. Though they had a rough start, the two groups made peace before Rick and his crew moved on. After their next shelter got destroyed, Rick decided to find the Vatos again and ask if they could stay with them until they found their next move. Upon returning to the nursing home, they quickly realized the property was overrun by walkers.
The original sequence was quite a bit different. In the deleted scene, we see Rick and the gang approach the now-dilapidated shelter, where they see several zombies gorging out on human remains. The group shoots those walkers before continuing further into the property, only to find some of the dead residents of the nursing home look to have been murdered before the walkers got there. In fact, Daryl (Norman Reedus) pointed out that they were shot in the head, execution-style, before mentioning they should probably be more worried about the dangerous people out there instead of the walkers.
If this scene had been left in "The Walking Dead," it would have added a whole new layer of fear — not only are there monsters lurking around, but people with a thirst for violence. The aftermath of the nursing home also could've foreshadowed future dangers, such as the Governor (David Morrissey).