The Walking Dead walks onto your TV screen thanks to AMC

SMB · August 13, 2009, 3:14am

AMC is looking to develop a show around The Walking Dead, the comic book series about a group of survivors who try to adjust to life after the zombie apocalypse. Does this mean that zombies are the new Mad Men?

Variety reports that the cable station is close to inking a deal with Frank Darabont, writer and director of such films as The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, to develop a cable series based on Robert Kirkman’s popular series. The series begins several weeks after a zombie outbreak has left the United States in ruins, shutting down the country’s infrastructure and killing most of the living population. Police officer Rick Grimes has woken from a coma, to find the world he once knew destroyed. He travels to Atlanta in search of his wife and son. There, he bands with a group of fellow survivors, and together they try to survive a world where the conveniences of modern life are a distant memory, and flesh-hungry zombies scour the land.

As over-exposed as zombies have become, there’s plenty of reason to be excited for a Walking Dead television series. While humans certainly do fall to the zombies, the comic book series is no typical undead gorefest. It’s about the things that happen after the apocalypse about how the characters adjust to the new realities of their universe, and the decisions and changes they must make to survive. It’s not a story that would work within the confines of a two-hour feature film, but on television it could offer a vision of the apocalypse that we don’t usually see. And with Darabont at the helm, TV zombies could be as smartly depicted as 1960s advertising executives.

I friend of mine torrented the entire series and I completed it this past weekend. I love the book, I can only hope they will stay true to the story. I read on another forum that creator said that if this book ever gets a TV treatment, he would want it shot in black & white only.

Anyone else excited by this news???

Apathy-Inc · August 13, 2009, 3:21am

AMC has shown it can do great shows with Breaking Bad and Mad Men, so I think this’ll turn out good.

I’d rather see it on HBO or SHOWTIME just so they could add more blood/swears.

matrix9280 · August 14, 2009, 3:09am

So Kirkman’s a sellout too. Hopefully it fails after a couple of episodes and people could just think it was a bad dream. Leave comics alone Hollywood.

Apathy-Inc · August 14, 2009, 3:19am

Duh.:lol:
A fan asked if there were any plans to bring “The Walking Dead” to television stations such as HBO and Showtime. Kirkman said he couldn’t say anything publicly yet, but there are plans in the works and he might have an announcement soon. Would he consider a film version? “I would prefer a television show, but I am a bit of a cover your ears, kids whore,” he admitted. “So, if Michael Bay wants to do a movie, I’m there. Exploding zombies!”

barzaad9564 · August 18, 2009, 7:31am

i saw this on G4… i was pumped… but now that i hear AMC is doing it… not so much… i would also have liked it to be handled by a more amture oriented network like HBO er sumthin… i mean WD is the goriest of my favorite comics and i’ve read every issue… so to leave it’s TV adaptation to a network who will have to water it down due to censorship is kinda troubling me… but when everything is said and done i’ll give the first couple episodes a watch and see id they did it right…

triplefierce · August 18, 2009, 9:54am

terrific news! my biggest concern was that they would try to squeeze everything into a movie or two. tv is the perfect medium for this big of a cast. it will allow the proper screen time for each character to develop as they did/do in the comic.

as for Kirkman being a sell out- i hope he makes an obscene amount of money over the obvious care, talent, and effort he and his crew put into the Walking Dead. Even if the worst case scenario comes to past- the tv adaptation turns out to be garbage. it wouldnt matter to me- the comics wouldnt be diminished for me. He did a great job, i WANT the guy to get paid. from what i heard- comics dont pay well, unless you get a deal like Kirkman apparently might.

generally im disappointed in the comic book adaptations, but i tend to avoid nearly all of the recent movies and just spend my money at the comic shop on the real deal. thanks for the post- first i heard of the it!