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David Morrisey’s Governor in The Walking Dead is distinctly different from his comic book counterpart, which caused ire among fans.

For as long as film and television have existed, there has always been a section of the audience who has desired to see their favourite pieces of written work come to life on the small screen. The majority of prominent adaptations, especially in recent years, have come from some of the traditionally “geeky” sources, comic books and fantasy stories, resulting in mega-blockbusters such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Avengers, as well as a long list of televisions shows. While adaptations have achieved varying degrees of success, both critically and financially, the biggest question on the minds of the fans when watching for the first time is always the same: How much are the writers going to change the story?

For fans of a piece of written work, especially the ones that have become popular enough to be elevated to film and TV status, the story and it's ingredients, be it the characters, locations or a specific event that takes place are something to be revered, the equivalent of a sacred text that should not be tampered with. An author has virtually no limits in how much he or she can describe within the pages, a trait that is perhaps most obvious when looking at George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which inspired HBO's hugely successful television series Game of Thrones. Currently sitting at five books, with two more titles to be published at some point before the end of the world, the book series is a tremendous example of the deep and involved worlds that can be created in the hands of a skilled author. Each novel is a wealth of prose, describing what is happening in the story, as well as the multitude of events that happened before, creating a realistic world that has enraptured millions of readers worldwide.

When aiming to bring this sprawling world to the small screen, series creators David Benioff and D.B.Weiss were faced with the task of condensing the massive world contained within the pages into an hour-per-week television series that would satisfy the long-time fans of the series and draw in viewers who were unfamiliar with the source material. To say that they were successful in their endeavours would be an understatement, with the show drawing in an average of 14.2 million viewers during its third season (not including illegal online viewing and downloads, where it is the most pirated show on the Internet), with the show becoming a cultural phenomenon worldwide. The creators were not only able to focus on the important facets of the books' events, ensuring that the story goes exactly where it should, but also were able to add in many of their own scenes that were never present in the book, which have drawn praise from fans and critics alike for breathing life into certain characters that were not prominent in the novels.

Competing with Game of Thrones for the distinction of nerdiest pop culture juggernaut, AMC's The Walking Dead is a sterling example of how writers can make huge changes to the source material and still create a compelling story that does not alienate the original fans. Adapting a monthly black and white comic book about zombies may have been a risk, but the original spin on the story of Rick Grimes and friends has turned what would have been a difficult adaptation into a runaway success. While not all of the changes have gone down well with fans, notably the portrayals of certain main characters, the new spin on the story has gone down well with old and new fans alike. Comic creator Robert Kirkman said in a 2012 interview, “There are things that happen in the comic that you absolutely have to put in the show, otherwise you're not doing the comic justice. But maybe we move it up, maybe we move it back, we add different characters into the mix.” This balance between the old and new has ensured that the show has retained the spirit of the original story while keeping old fans guessing as to what is coming.

These two differing yet successful approaches to adaptations prove that there is no formula for translating written word into good television, but the most important aspect continues to be a loyalty to the original story, regardless of what minor creative liberties are taken.