The Walking Dead showrunner, Angela Kang, reveals that Lydia (Cassady McClincy) moment that felt sort of parallel to Carol’s (Melissa McBride) death in the comics. In season nine’s finale, “The Storm,” Lydia is contemplating suicide after her mother, Alpha (Samantha Morton), kills 10 people from the different communities, including her boyfriend, and Carol’s and Ezekiel’s (Khary Payton) adopted son, Henry (Matt Lintz). As Lydia reluctantly holds out her hand to a zombie looking for a bite, she brings it back, unable to go through with it as Carol stands afar watching the whole thing unfold in front of her.
“I just loved seeing all of the frozen zombies, and I love it when Lydia comes upon that frozen walker in the lake. The interesting thing that comic book fans may or may not pick up on, is we’re actually doing an homage to Carol’s death in the comic book,” Kang told EW.
“She basically commits suicide by zombie, and we have Carol from the show — who’s well outlasted Carol from comic books — she’s watching this moment play out between Lydia and the zombie,” continued Kang. “And I just think that the production design of that scene, the way that Greg [Nicotero] directed it, the way the zombie looks, all of that was very evocative. And then of course, Cassady who plays Lydia, and Melissa, they’re so wonderful and emotional. There’s so much rawness that they bring to their performance that I think it ended up being this really special scene that I really love.”
It’s well-known that the show tends to do things differently from the comics whether by involving other characters in the same situation or with an outcome entirely far apart from the original.
With the Whisperers still being a threat, we see the communities finally come together and push forward after the devastating murders of their friends.
The Walking Dead will return this fall with the premiere of season 10.