It’s one of those strange quirks about TV land that we viewers just have to accept. In a lot of shows, the characters never use strong language in situations when any normal person would. Take The Walking Dead, for example. In a post-apocalyptic world where walkers lurk around every corner, you would expect F-bombs to be dropped left, right and centre. And yet, the word has never been uttered on the show. That may be about to change, though.
On Sunday night’s episode of spinoff Fear The Walking Dead, history was made with the first usage of the F-word in a broadcast episode of this franchise. The moment happened when Frank Dillane’s Nick Clark saw a load of zombies heading to his community. So, as any of us would, he simply said “F–k.”
According to Fear The Walking Dead showrunner Dave Erikson, the word slipped through the censors due to a loosening of AMC’s policy on strong language. Speaking to ComicBook.com, he said the following:
“You get a specific number of curse words you can say, and then there’s a list of what you can and can’t do. I think it was our script coordinator who told me there was an email had come up; there had been a memo saying we could now say “f—” twice over the course of an entire season… I don’t know at what point AMC corporate decided to allow it, but they did.”
Clearly, then, this new policy isn’t unique to just Fear and will likely effect The Walking Dead when it returns for its eighth season next month as well. However, don’t expect Negan to be turning the air blue – well, even bluer – every week, as the show will still have to limit itself to just two F-words per season. It’s pretty safe to assume, though, that at least one of those will be uttered by Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s gleefully dirty-mouthed villain.
The Walking Dead returns, ruder than ever, on Sunday, October 22nd.
