Warning: The following contains spoilers for AMC's "The Walking Dead."
Admittedly, fans of "The Walking Dead" are more concerned with the uncertain fate of Steven Yeun's Glenn than they are with anything else at the moment. But Sunday's episode also featured Rick coming in contact with a possibly zombie-virus infected machete which cut his hand. Fans of the comics know that Rick loses a hand and have been wondering if that story line will now be realized on the screen.
But showrunner Scott M. Gimple quickly put that fan theory to bed.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say something definitive: Rick is OK regarding that cut,' Gimple told Cinema Blend. "His hand will survive. There will be a bandage. There will be some ointment involved. But he's going to walk away from it."
That's to be expected as Gimple and AMC are likely not eager to handicap their main character. However, that hasn't stopped star Andrew Lincoln from trying. He recently revealed that he's been lobbying behind the scenes to lose the appendage as in the comics, though his arguments have been futile to this point.
But that doesn't mean Rick isn't in any danger at all. Gimple did say to TV Line that concerns from fans about Rick getting infected from the wound are well founded.
"It's entirely possible, but we haven't really gotten into it on the show," Gimple said.
Rick cut his hand while fending off a Walker with a machete embedded in its head. Though Rick was able to also defeat his mysterious attackers (were they Wolves?) afterwards, it was clear that his hand was bothering him.
Gimple and Co. obviously wanted to instill a bit of fear in viewers, but perhaps they were too effective in doing so. Logistically, it just doesn't make sense for Rick to lose his hand with so much story left to be told. Sorry, comic book fans.
"The Walking Dead" airs Sunday nights at 9:00 PM ET on AMC.
