Former Walking Dead lead Andrew Lincoln made his case to the shows writers and producers to keep a certain character alive during the shows third season. The character happened to be Axel, one of the prison inmates, played by Lew Temple. Unfortunately for Temple, Axel wouldn't make it past the season he arrived in. The Walking Dead began back in 2010 on AMC when Frank Darabont pursued an adaptation of Robert Kirkman's post-apocalyptic comic book that takes place during a zombie apocalypse. At its inception, the show followed Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group journey through a zombie-filled world while meeting other survivors along the way.
The character of Axel was introduced in the premiere of season 3, an episode titled "Seed", which included the prison as one of the primary set pieces. He and four other survivors were holding up in the prison as they came in contact with Rick's Group, who arrives at the prison looking for a new safe haven. A relationship between the two groups developed as Axel became a trusted ally to Rick both in the show and in the comic book series. The progression of their bond was shortlived as Temple was informed three weeks before his character was set to be killed off of The Walking Dead in season 3.
In an interview with KyTalk Live, Temple recalled Lincoln coming to his defense, attempting to keep Axel alive on the show saying, "As a matter of fact, Andrew Lincoln then went to the production, to the producers, and said, 'I think we're making a mistake here, let's not do this just yet.''" After Lincoln's pursuit to keep Axel on the show, the writers and producers reconvened to discuss their previous plan of killing Axel off. Temple then referred to the writer's reactions saying, "they went back into discussion, and actually there were several series regulars that they started to consider other than Axel,'" Temple also recalled his own process of dealing with the shock and disappointment of his character being killed off saying:
"I was notified three weeks in advance. I was asked at the time not to talk about it because it wasn't set in stone...I thought Axel was gonna be an integral part of the survival group, and I was kind of being led to believe that he was as well...By virtue of the graphic novels, I was well aware that he does die, but I was thinking that maybe it wasn't going to come as quickly as it did."
It is no surprise that Lincoln got involved considering his emotional reactions to character deaths on the show. Yet, the plans behind the scenes are always more complicated than many thought. Temple originally was planned to be set up as a serial killer who captured one of the main characters on the show, Beth Greene. Those plans were scrapped and added to the ongoing list of alternate storylines characters could have had on the show if they were given a longer life.
Lincoln's star power and pull behind the scenes of The Walking Dead was undoubtedly strong. Considering he was able to have the writer's team regroup and discuss their integral choices to the show was a clear indicator of his impact. Season 3 was the spark of the show that gave The Walking Dead's the ability to break viewership records. It's heartwarming to hear Lincoln's enthusiasm and drive to keep a character on the show that he believed in. The Walking Dead is a show known for its notorious character deaths and reveals. Having a story from a cast member recalling an inner struggle on the fate of character death is both fitting and nostalgic for dedicated fans.
Source: KyTalk Live