In The Walking Dead season nine, Tara Chambler (played by Alanna Masterson) and Jesus (Tom Payne) were killed off sparking fans anger.
Both were major LGBTQ characters and their unexplained deaths left many in the community feeling betrayed by the AMC show, which has typically provided a voice for minorities.
Now, showrunner Angela Kang has spoken to The Hollywood Reporter about the deaths and how they were handled sensitively.
She said: “It’s like the discussion we have about any character.
“For season nine, in our writers’ room itself, the LGBTQ perspective has been represented very strongly throughout the years, and this year was no exception.
“Our cast of series regulars, as well as many major recurring characters, the majority of the people are from historically underrepresented groups.
“They’re often from two or three of those groups at one time. Anyone death on this show will always hit somebody who will feel: ‘There’s not enough of me represented on screen’.”
Despite the deaths, LGBT characters remains in the series and there are no plans to axe any more of the stars.
The Walking Dead has a long history of including minority cast members and characters.
However, Angela added: “At the same time, when so many of us come from these underrepresented groups too, we don’t want to engage in tokenism.
“We want every single person to have the same full story that anyone would have. Taking death off the table for any group for any reason limits the types of stories we can tell for them, as well as our casting abilities.”
Fans took to Twitter at the time of Tara’s death to complain, with one fan saying: “A reminder to not kill all the LGBT characters because representation matters.”
Another added: “I know The Walking Dead hasn’t been that great in years but it was the one show I looked forward to every week and now it just makes me sick. I get it, people will get killed off but please stop killing the few LGBT characters we have.”
Other fans believe characters get killed off regardless and it has nothing to do with sexual preference.
One fan said: “Apparently LGBT characters should have some special powers that make them immune to stabbing and beheadings. All that matters is sexual preference!”
Jesus was killed midseason in season nine by walkers and Tara was revealed as on of Alpha’s victims in the savage pikes storyline.
Jesus star Tom has previously revealed deviations from The Walking Dead comic storylines for Jesus caused “a lot of my depression at times.”
His character’s storyline was meant to go further in the TV series, but bosses decided to cut his character before he had chance to do the scenes.
Meanwhile, Angela has also teased how Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) exit storyline will play out.
Fans will have to wait to find out whether LGBTQ representation continues into season 10 or whether more characters will be killed off.
The Walking Dead season 10 premieres on AMC and FOX in October 2019.