People being murdered by zombies on the “The Walking Dead” is like finding trees in a rainforest, except that when one of the integral characters, Dale, had his guts ripped open by a zombie, we were shocked!
Executive producer of the show Robert Kirkman told MTV News why they killed Veteran actor Jeffrey DeMunn’s character, “Dale’s death comes at a time where he’s very much needed. [Rick and the gang] are trying to make this decision on what to do with Randall. The farm is becoming increasingly dangerous. There is still tension between Rick and Shane, despite the fact that it appears that they’ve put much of their differences behind them for now. They need that moral compass [in Dale], and it’s been taken away.”
Dale’s death is going to impact the group deeply, especially since Carl taunted the zombie earlier in the day and is partially to blame for Dale’s death.
“It’s interesting to see Carl doing kid stuff: going out on his own, trying to prove he’s strong enough to kill a zombie, proving that he’s deserving of carrying a gun,” Kirkman said. “He instigated this whole situation. We’re going to deal with his emotions and what comes from him causing Dale’s death to a certain extent. That’s definitely one of the big repercussions where Dale’s death affects these characters.”
The “The Walking Dead” is based on a comic book, but the television series differs greatly from the comic. Dale, for instance, survived many more attacks and obstacles before finally succumbing to a zombie attack. So why would the writers decide to take Dale down so early?
“One of the things we wanted to do is show how dangerous these zombies actually are,” Kirkman said. “We were sitting around the writers’ room early on in the planning of season two, and we thought, you know, there aren’t a lot of zombies actually succeeding in what they’re trying to do. They eat people here and there, but we’ve never really had a zombie actually take down one of our main characters, at least not for a while, not since the first season. We wanted to remind people how dangerous these creatures are.”
Watch the video to see Dale’s final moments on the show before he is euthanized by Norman Reedus’ character.
