The Walking Dead’s Beth actress reveals the one major change to her character she fought against. Maggie’s teenaged half-sister Beth Greene debuted on AMC’s zombie drama way back in season 2. She remained a major character until her death in season 5.
The death of Beth Greene of course was one of the more memorable and tragic moments of The Walking Dead season 5. After disappearing while traveling with Daryl, Beth was later revealed to have been abducted by police officers along with Carol and taken to a hospital in Atlanta. Far from being safe inside a hospital full of police, Beth found herself in the middle of a power struggle between the facility’s leader Dawn and some of the other officers. It seemed that both Beth and Carol would survive the situation however when Daryl and Rick showed up to rescue them. Unfortunately Beth was killed by Dawn just as it seemed everything would turn out all right.
Being killed off The Walking Dead was certainly bad news for Beth actress Emily Kinney. But as she just revealed, things were almost worse for her thanks to a major character change then-showrunner Scott Gimple proposed. Speaking to the crowd at a recent Fandemic Tour Atlanta event, Kinney discussed Gimple’s idea and why she fought against it (via Comicbook.com):
"Scott Gimple talked to me one day about — I don't know if you guys remember, but [Beth] had a big scar, when I show up in the hospital, something bad happened to [Beth] and I had a big scar. He had this idea of the scar being on my head and my head being shaved, all messed up — not completely shaved, but all messed up. I said, 'Okay, sure, as the dedicated actress, I would love that. However, if you're thinking we might kill her off soon, please, no, because I would like to get another acting job after this' [laughs]."
Of course Kinney was correct in her assumption that Beth would soon be killed off. Obviously seeing the character with her trademark blonde hair partially shaved off would have added to the emotional power of her situation in the hospital. But it was perfectly reasonable for Kinney to request she not have to take such a drastic step if indeed the plan was for her character to soon die anyway.
Obviously there were many Walking Dead fans who were enraged when Beth was so unceremoniously eliminated (Beth and Daryl shippers were particularly upset). As it turns out though, Beth almost met an even more brutal demise in The Walking Dead season 3, as the original plan was for her to be murdered in the woods by Axel. Producers ultimately nixed Beth’s season 3 demise however, on the grounds that it would be too dark even for a show about the zombie apocalypse. What finally did happen to Beth on The Walking Dead may not have been quite as dark as being butchered in the woods, but it was certainly upsetting and arguably unfair. Kinney though is obviously grateful that in addition to being written off the show, she wasn’t forced to shave off most of her hair and hurt her chances of getting more acting work.
Source: Fandemic Tour Atlanta (via Comicbook.com)