The Walking Dead is an epic zombie tale with Rick Grimes at the heart of its post-apocalyptic story, with the character’s role as the leader of his ragtag crew of survivors solidifying him as one of the series’ best and most important heroes. But despite everything Rick went through in The Walking Dead’s almost 200 issues, series creator Robert Kirkman revealed one regret he has about how he portrayed Rick in the comics, something that got worse the longer the book went on.

Born in Cynthiana, Kentucky, fans were introduced to Rick Grimes in the very first issue of The Walking Dead. Acting as a sheriff’s deputy of King County, Georgia, it wasn’t long before Rick was shot in the line of duty, resulting in Rick slipping into a coma, with the rest being comic book history.

In the “Letter Hacks” column at the back of The Walking Dead Deluxe #94, Kirkman reveals that he takes the full blame for letting Rick’s Southern characterization fall by the wayside, turning the character into a protagonist nearly devoid of his rich geographically-linked background.

Robert Kirkman Admits He Let Rick’s Southern Characterization Fall by the Wayside

The Walking Dead Deluxe #94 – 2024 (Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Dave McCaig)

A regret stemming from a letter calling out how most Walking Dead characters are “interchangeable vocally” and don’t have a “unique voice” of their own, this fan accurately explains that readers “shouldn’t have to SEE who’s speaking to KNOW who’s speaking.” Admitting, “I used to write Rick a LOT more southern than I do these days,” Kirkman goes on to say, “That’s a big mistake on my part — and it’s just one of those things that happen over the course of writing 100 issues of something,” owning up to a mishandling of Rick that didn’t necessarily need to happen.

Not writing Rick with a pronounced accent even from the beginning of The Walking Dead, Kirkman admitting that he lost Rick’s Southern roots more and more as the series went on is an unfortunate but ultimately negligible misstep that, luckily, doesn’t affect who Rick’s character is at his core. Sure, there are a few snippets of dialogue where Rick’s Southern talk shines through, but it’s more so his actions along with his deep-rooted sense of family and community that help frame Rick’s embedded cultural values, something a simple accent couldn’t represent nearly as effectively.

Rick Reflected His Southern Roots Less the Longer The Walking Dead Went On

It’s not wrong to point out that a lot of Kirkman’s characters are interchangeable in the way they speak — the fan who originally posited this idea at least admits Abraham and Axel had more of a “voice” than most — but it doesn’t change the fact that Rick has evolved into a far better and far more capable character from where he began, Southern pronunciation be damned. Fortunately for fans, Rick’s live-action counterpart, played by Andrew Lincoln, mostly maintains his accent throughout AMC’s The Walking Dead show, officially giving Rick Grimes the characterization Robert Kirkman regrets he never kept up with.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #94 is available from Image Comics.