The Walking Dead: Producers have toned down future violence due to season 7 criticism

Executive producer Gale Ann Hurd doesn't want fans to think the show is 'torture porn'

You may recall the opening episode of The Walking Dead - the traumatic one which saw Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) beat fan favourites Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) to death with a baseball bat.

The graphic nature of the episode saw the series deemed 'too violent' for TV - and producers have confirmed this backlash forced them to tone down the violence in future episodes.

Executive producer Gale Ann Hurd revealed on a panel moderated by Indiewire and Variety's Michael Schneider that adjustments were made to episodes still in production at the time season seven premiered (23 October).

“We were able to look at the feedback on the level of violence. We did tone it down for episodes we were still filming for later on in the season."

Hurd continued: “This is not a show that is torture porn" adding that they gave careful consideration in future episodes not to "cross that line.”

Not that they minded; AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan levelled that the response was proof of just how much fans care about the series and its characters.

He said: “When something matters a lot and it has a universality, then you’re bothered by it and you care about it.

The past few seasons has seen the series' world expand with the introduction of new factions the Hilltop Colony and the Kingdom; it seems these strands are going to be tied together in the concluding season seven episodes which begin airing next month.

The closing moments of the latest episode saw Rick reassemble the fractured group in a bid to overthrow the Saviours.

The Walking Dead returns in the US on February 12 and will air the following evening in the UK, 9 pm on FOX. You can find our definitive ranking of all eight episodes thus far here, as well as a preview of all the shows to look out for in 2017 here.