Mar 21 2011 01:55 PM ET

'The Walking Dead': Stephen King in talks to write an episode of AMC's zombie series

stephen-king

Image Credit: Joe Kohen/Getty Images

AMC’s zombie sensation The Walking Dead might be getting a serious scare injection on its writing staff for next season. Iconic horror novelist (and former EW columnist) Stephen King has confirmed with EW that he’s currently in talks to write an episode of the post-apocalyptic series. Dead is executive-produced by Frank Darabont, who has directed three films based on King’s work — four, if you count his 1983 short film The Woman in the Room — and King tells EW exclusively that Darabont “has expressed enthusiastic interest for season 2 or possibly 3.” Although the author is still early in negotiations, the current plan would be for King to co-write an episode with his son, Joe Hill, the author of horror novels Heart-Shaped Box and Horns.

Read more:
‘The Walking Dead’ scoop: Expect a gorier season 2!
Robert Kirkman on ‘The Walking Dead’ season two: ‘You haven’t seen anything yet’

Comments (59 total) Add your comment
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  • myprettypony

    Sounds good to me, Uncle Stevie!

    • Nathan

      Great news, he’s the king!!

    • chacha

      Yay! But he should wrote a whole season.

  • Sam Winchester

    I picked up the 1st season on DVD. I really couldn’t see what all the hype was about. I found it very boring & monotonous. It didn’t have much of a plot. Both the characters & the creatures were so ugly & disgusting. There is nothing to like about that show. Nothing at all. True Blood is a hundred times better. Even Supernatural kicks the Walking Dead’s ass. Next.

    • Don’tusecharacternamesfromshows

      Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. My opinion is you are on crack!

    • DGH

      My wife thought the same thing but then again her idea of entertainment is Jersey Shore.

    • B

      The zombies were ugly and disgusting? I thought they were so supposed to be sexy and appealing. That’s why I love True Blood and Supernatural… I’m gay!

      • Katja

        LOL that’s what I thought, B – how can someone watch a show about zombies and then be surprised it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing? I don’t like zombies, they creep me out, I don’t like horror movies, I don’t like graphic gore. However, I LOVE The Walking Dead. It’s my new Lost – character-driven survival-oriented serial drama with some creepy supernatural thriller aspects to it….though the creepy part is way stronger in The Walking Dead and I still hide behind my couch pillows when the zombies appear.

      • Pillow Pants

        I’m surprised the OP likes True Blod. The vampires don’t even sparkle.

      • BlackIrish4094

        @Katja, please don’t compare it to the crap that was Lost, this show is actually good.

    • Dr.Evil

      I prefer you as an uneducated, Mad tech and Low budget-fan human being…

    • Paul Beavin Jr

      These person is loose in the head, maybe a WALKER. This show rocks and this person blows chunks!

    • Dale Twigg

      @Sam Winchester. You are missing the point of the show. Yes everything is ugly and disgusting. That is the point. Who is the real monster threatening us? The zombies or the people surviving them. With no social system, and big brother no longer watching, society has broken down and there are no rules. Should we applaud the zombies for only killing because it is the nature of what they are? Or should we applaud the violent and backstabbing humans who kill each other and cause pain because they can and nobody is stopping them. Look beyond the zombies man. There is a deeper social message involved.

  • waya

    Make it nice and bloody Stephen!

  • Al

    Oooooo, looking forward to it!

  • joesmom

    The problem I had with “Walking Dead” was that the characters didn’t always behave the way you would expect them to. #1 problem was our cop hero, who should have been asking from episode 1, “What the hell happened??” And all that complaing about no weapons or food, heck, did anyone think to raid the local WalMart? The cop broke into a cop station and bulked up on guns and ammo but no one else thought about that?

    At least when I read a King novel, the characters behave in a more realistic fashion, so I’m looking forward to what he can do with these characters.

    • Mr. Holloway

      1.) I realize that some people just can’t deal with the fact that the characters aren’t obsessed about what happened, but “The Walking Dead” isn’t really concerned with that. It’s not a mystery about what happened — which was addressed in the season 1 finale — but it’s more of an exploration of the way people behave and survive and what it means to be human.

      2.) How boring would it be if characters in fiction always behaved “the way you would expect them to”?

      • Crystal

        . . . and to continue your critique: How boring would it be if everyone just wandered around going “What happened? What happened? What happened?!” into the void that scientific explanation has become in a world where almost everybody is dead. What’s the likelihood they’d run across someone in the first 6 episodes that would know exactly what happened and why anyway? And, since you’re so worried about realism, would that be realistic at all? Surely, there may be a conversation or two about why everyone thinks it all happened, but how would that move the story along other than just pure conjecture? People need to stop complaining about it not answering “WHY” because, ultimately, that’s not the point!

  • Crystal

    That’ll be pretty awesome! Hopefully the episode brings a little levity (but not too much). Incorporating humor in his horror is one of the things King does best.

  • Justin

    Heck yeah! Do your stuff, Stephen!

  • Gwen

    OOoh how awesome! I’d watch/read anything Uncle Stevie does, but as a huge fan of The Walking Dead, this is even more exciting!

  • Ben Afflack

    Stephen King + The Walking Dead = Win!!! I’ve checked the math 6 times.

    • Zack

      Sorry, your math is close, but actually wrong. Stephen King + The Walking Dead = Epic Win!

      • yepyep

        Thank you Zack, i looked ovr Ben’s math and didnt have the heart to tell him that he was close, but fell a bit short. Your math Zack is right and Ben Im going to have to teach you math. Jusst so you k now Ben you missed it by one. hehe

  • lX

    I’ll be in the minority, I’m sure, but the only thing that saves this news for me is that Joe Hill would be involved as well. The things that King has directly been involved in when it comes to movies and TV–think Kingdom Hospital–have been miserable as a viewing experience.

    • BlackIrish4094

      The Joe Hill thing doesn’t save it for me at all. Thumbs down on both parts.

    • saki

      Thank you. Reading through the comments I was beginning to think I was the only one with this opinion. King’s work has been going nothing but downhill, and I don’t see him writing an episode turning out well.

  • BlackIrish4094

    I used to love Stephen King’s work and still love his older works but as a fan of the show this is NOT good news IMO. SK is living off the Laurels of his older work, haven’t enjoyed anything in the last 6 years or so.

  • Nick

    I haven’t been good about reading my EW mags like i used to does anybody know why he became a former EW columnist?

    • PixxieTrixxie

      He has decided to cut down on his commitment to EW – he will do a column again when he believes he has something relevant to contribute. I still miss his columns terribly – who is going to tell me which books I should be checking out or what music I should try.

      • Nick

        Thanks for the info! Very sad indeed he was always a favorite when I read the magazines religiously.

  • George

    Wow.

    Hack and Son of Hack hijack a good tv show and this is good news?

    F King. He has not done anything original or creative since It.

    • BlackIrish4094

      I maybe wouldn’t have gone that far but I generally agree with you.

    • Lena

      Stephen King? Yawn. Not good news. Pretty boring, if you ask me.

    • Summer Bay

      So, how many novels have you written & sold? Sad really how jaded and bitter you come off.

      • George

        What does that have to do with anything? Can only published authors criticize dreck?

        I haven’t directed any Hollywood movies either, but I know that Transformers 2 was a festering pile of turds.

    • Weezle

      Prejuding Joe Hill I See. He is a phenomenal story teller. Locke and Key is one of the best comics ever written. Joe Hill is no hack.

  • Kent

    As long as he doesn’t write the ending of the episode, it could be very good.

    • Petra

      Well, said, Kent- one of my first thoughts. Stephen King’s endings to his novels are always anticlimactic.

  • Allison

    I think Mr. King couldn’t add anything bad to it, so since I loved the show and how it was going (very excited to see if they get to the prison!) I hope he just keeps going with it and adds his own darkness to it. Love it!

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