I’m sorry I can’t contain myself. YES! *Breath* Ok, that’s better. Now where was I? Oh, right…
Frank Darabount, showrunner/director/producer/writer of AMC’s upcoming horror drama The Walking Dead (based on the comic book by Robert Kirkman), told Fangoria magazine that a second season of the zombie apocalypse show is official. Fans of the most anticipated new fall show must be teeming with excitement–The Walking Dead hasn’t even aired a single episode yet and the network gave it a green light to continue producing new content! Filming for season 2 will begin February 2011. Ready for some more good news? Producer Gale Anne Hurd confirms that season 2 will expand the episode count. While the first season will carry a short 6-episode arc, season 2 will contain 13 episodes.
Darabount hinted at what to expect in the second season. Perhaps some of the “environmental elements” from volume two of Kirkman’s comics will play a pivotal role? “It would be great not just to get out of the heat, but to present a different idea to the audience visually and tonally by having it be winter. There’s some really cool stuff that Kirkman did, where they find the one zombie that’s frozen to the ground. I’d never seen that before and that’s really cool.”
Yes, yes it is. Darabont goes on to share his excitment about how the team plans on introducing a fan favorite from the comic book series. “Or when Michonne shows up – and boy, is she a character I can’t wait to get to – when she comes striding out of the wasteland like a Clint Eastwood f***ing spaghetti western character cross-melded with some samurai movie, like the Baby Cart character with the f***ing sword, and there’s just a little drift of snow in the air. I would love to put that on film.”
Hyped? Me too. The Walking Dead premieres October 31 at 10PM on AMC; it’s a two-hour episode so set your DVRs accordingly.
Update: Numerous sources say that Darabont spoke too soon. According to AMC reps news of a second season is pure speculation and “rumor.” Oh well. It will be made official soon enough.
[Via ComicBookMovie; IGN]