At Comic Con 2011 in San Diego, the cast and crew of AMC’s The Walking Dead took the stage to talk about the fantastic new series and reveal season 2. Here are the highlights:
- The panel consisted of actors Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yuen and Jeffrey DeMunn; makeup artist Greg Nicotero; executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and Robert Kirkman; and showrunner/writer/director/producer Frank Darabont.
- Hurd confirmed that The Walking Dead will return Sunday, October 16 at 9PM on AMC. One phenomenal (and lengthy) season 2 trailer was screen twice during the panel; watch it in full after the break.
- Holden said, “If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead graphic novel, I think you’re going to be really happy this season.”
- Kirkman admitted, “There’s a bit of pressure. There’s an expectation now. It’s just made everyone work harder. It’s empowered us to try harder. To cross more lines, to tell bigger stories, knowing that there is a rabid fanbase out there.” He later joked that he’d hire Modern Family‘s Ed O’Neill to play a new character next season if casting were up to him. “My second go-to is John Stamos,” he chuckled.
- Wayne Callies said, “The scripts this season are unprecedented…the best TV scripts I’ve ever seen. This season really shows that the most dangerous things out there are the monsters inside.” Holden added, “Every character is pushed to the max this year. People are going to be so thrilled. The writing is so superb and every script is gold.”
- Little Carl Grimes (played by Chandler Riggs) is going to kick things up a notch, according to Wayne Callies. “I was brought to tears by how proud I am of him,” she said. “He did a scene the other day that I can’t tell you anything about, but it will take your breath away. He is going to blow your mind this year.”
- And where will season 2 pick up? Exactly where you want it to. The October premiere “picks up about five seconds, in an overlap, with the end of the first season,” Kirkman revealed. So there’s none of this bulls–t six months later stuff!” He added, “The plan is not to rush [Rick Grimes’ story], just like I did in the comic book series.”
- *Shortly after Comic Con ended, AMC announced that Frank Darabont has stepped away from his showrunner duties for reasons unknown at this time. Walking Dead executive producer and writer Glen Mazzara (The Shield) has assumed Darabont’s duties as #1. An official statement read like this: “AMC is grateful to executive producer, writer and pilot director Frank Darabont whose contributions to the success of The Walking Dead are innumerable. We continue to discuss his ongoing role with the series.”
Check out the gallery below to view pictures from The Walking Dead panel at Comic Con. Note that security did not allow attendees to take pictures of anything shown on screen.
