The Walking Dead’s Andrea Was Originally Going To Marry Dale – Looper

First off, some of the story ideas from Darabont’s statement–but not all–are taken directly from Kirkman’s comics. Here’s a rundown Andrea and Dale’s relationship in the comic books:  

Andrea is one of the original members of Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) group, just like she is on the TV show. She survives the events in Atlanta and makes it to the Greene’s farm. This is when the TV show kills off Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) and replaces him with Hershel (Scott Wilson) for the role of “wise old man of the group,” a role that Hershel is much better suited for anyway. Andrea and Dale do bond before his TV show death, but it never becomes romantic. From this point onward, the TV version of Andrea’s story diverges from her comics’ counterpart almost completely. 

In the comics, Andrea and Dale begin their relationship at the Greene’s farm. Andrea and Dale both survive the Greene’s farm disaster and make it to the prison. There, the Atlanta group brings in a widowed father named Allen and his two sons, Billy and Ben. Allen quickly dies after Rick amputates his leg to treat a zombie bite, and Andrea and Dale adopt the boys. Dale meets his demise during the Alexandria sequence of the story, when the Atlanta group is at war with the cannibalistic group called the Hunters. They kidnap Dale and eat his leg. He escapes but later dies of his wounds, and Andrea has to shoot him when he reanimates. 

Andrea eventually has a relationship with Rick–but Darabont explicitly said that he wasn’t going to go do that. Which begs the question, what was his plan for Andrea instead?