According to Deadline.com show runner Frank Darabont (THE MIST) is stepping down from the hit AMC zombie series THE WALKING DEAD.
It’s unclear whether Darabont, who was the force behind bringing the Robert Kirkman-created graphic novel to television and directed the pilot, is leaving the show completely or just relinqhising the demanding day-to-day control of a TV series.
It’s believed Kirkman, also an executive producer will be staying with the series, as will Gale Anne Hurd (TERMINATOR) , and the article speculates that co-executive producer Glen Mazzara (THE SHEILD) may step in as the new showrunner.
THE WALKING DEAD is currently in production of its second season, due to return to AMC October 16th.
Tag: AMC
'Walking Dead' Writing Staff "Fired"
Deadline reports that Frank Darabont, executive producer and writer/director of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, has released all of the writing staff from season one of the popular comic book-based Zombie series.
The fact that there will be “changes to the writing staff” was confirmed today by AMC.
The site says it’s rumored that Frank Darabont may ultimately opt to not replace the staff, but instead go with freelance writers. Half of the six episodes of this first short season were written by Darabont himself (penning two), and one by comic book creator Robert Kirkman. Perhaps he plans to work out the plotline of the entire 13-episode second season himself (or with Kirkman), and simply assign scripts to freelancers.
This is not entirely unprecedented; BABYLON 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski dumped his entire writing staff after two seasons. He wrote the bulk of the next three years himself, with only two freelance scripts, if memory serves.
It’s unlikely that Frank Darabont intends to go that far.
New 'Walking Dead' Trailer
Here’s the latest trailer for AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD.
THE WALKING DEAD Trailer Shambles To A Computer Near You!
After months of being teased by photos, behind-the-scenes docs, and all manner of promotional material, the official trailer for AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, makes its way to home viewers. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past year, here is a quick synopsis of the zombie goodness heading your way (from the Official Walking Dead Site):
The Walking Dead tells the story of life following a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers, Strike Back) will portray the lead role of Rick Grimes while actor Jon Bernthal (The Pacific, The Ghost Writer) will portray the character Shane, who worked with Rick in the police department before the zombie disaster. Other cast includes Laurie Holden (The Shield), who plays Andrea, one of two sisters who join the survivors of the zombie plague, Steven Yeun as Glenn, an expert scavenger and Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), who plays Rick’s wife Lori.
Excited yet? If for some reason you aren’t – and if that is the case, what’s wrong with you?! – then feast your eyes on the trailer!
THE WALKING DEAD premieres October 31st, 2010 on AMC.
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Five Creepy New "Walking Dead" Photos
AMC’s upcoming WALKING DEAD series is fast approaching and Bloody Disgusting has five new stills to promote the show. 
If you like what you see, be sure to check out THE WALKING DEAD on AMC this October.
New Official WALKING DEAD Photos
The infection just keeps spreading as brand new OFFICIAL photos for AMC’s upcoming series THE WALKING DEAD were released. Check them out in the gallery below!
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'Walking Dead' Behind The Scenes Clip
Courtesy of MTV here’s a behind the scenes clip from AMC’s TV adaptation of THE WALKING DEAD.
Producer-director Frank Darabont told MTV: “We’re going to follow the Robert Kirkman narrative pretty closely, but we’re giving ourselves permission to veer off path and find the interesting detours…. We’ve got hundreds of zombies. We’ve got a downed helicopter; it just goes on and on. It’s crazy — all on a TV budget.”
Read the entire article at the link above.
New Photos of THE WALKING DEAD
As the premiere date for AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD approaches – slowly, slowly approaches – more photos have been released to tease us with a behind the scenes look at what we can expect from the series. Check it out!
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AMC's 'Walking Dead' To be Graphic
Quint over at Ain’t It Cool News has an interesting Q&A with Robert Kirkman about THE WALKING DEAD, the Zombie TV series based on the Image comic he writes and created in 2003 (with artist Tony Moore).
Asked about what the series would be able to depict on the AMC cable version, Kirkman gave this encouraging answer.
“… There are some language restrictions. You’re not going to be dropping the F-bomb on AMC, which is fine. It’s not like if no one ever said the “f” word in WALKING DEAD the comic book, people would miss it.
I think the best way to put it is if you have ever watched BREAKING BAD…. they push the limit in BREAKING BAD quite often. There’s severed heads on the back of turtles, there’s liquefied bodies falling through ceilings, somebody just got their head blown off recently. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s very graphic nasty stuff that’s on BREAKING BAD all of the time and the thing that I was very excited to learn about AMC is that there is no limitation to how much of that you can have per episode or per hour or per minute.”
With special effects to be done by KNB, there should plenty to keep fans of the comic book and horror fans happy.
Check out the link above for many more details about the upcoming 6-part series.
The Walking Dead Lead is Cast
Last month we reported that Frank Darabont’s AMC zombie TV series, THE WALKING DEAD, had been greenlit and now Comingsoon have the scoop that Andrew Lincoln (ENDURING LOVE, LOVE ACTUALLY) has been cast in the lead role. The announcement from AMC also includes the addition of Jack LoGiudice (SONS OF ANARCHY) as Co-Executive Producer.
Previous reports had Johnny Lee Miller pegged to play the part of Rick Grimes, the leader in a group of survivors trying to stay alive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse, but it seems AMC had other ideas. “Andrew is an incredibly gifted actor. He has the presence and attitude to bring this character and story to life. We are thrilled that he is joining the cast,” Joel Stillerman, SVP of original programming, production and digital content at AMC said.
Robert Kirkman, writer for the comic book series, also had this to add, “Andrew Lincoln, wow — what an amazing find this guy is. Writing Rick Grimes month after month in the comic series, I had no idea he was an actual living breathing human being and yet here he is.” Encouraging words indeed but I just don’t see it as a viable fit. Andrew Lincoln is by no means a bad actor but he hasn’t shown the capability for such an aggressive, messed-up character such as Rick. So far he’s mostly played rom-com fodder but he could, of course, surprise me by displaying range I was unaware he was capable of.
We’ll know for sure when THE WALKING DEAD hits TV screens later this October.