Image Credit: AMC
One of the most anticipated panels at Comic-Con today — heck, of the whole week — is for the return of AMC’s The Walking Dead. Below, creator Robert Kirkman previews what fans can expect from the highly anticipated second season debuting this fall:
EENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So what can fans expect at your panel?
ROBERT KIRKMAN: We’re bringing out more actors this year. I’m hoping to get some awkward questions from the audience that I can’t answer too well. And I’ll be wearing a different shirt. Last year my favorite was: “Why aren’t you filming the show in Los Angeles?”
I love the Georgia setting. When you watch Justified — it’s a great show, but it looks like Santa Clarita.
And one of the best things about this season is we’re getting out of Atlanta. It’s very rural. You’re going to see a lot more woods. One of the main set pieces is this farmhouse. It’s going to be pretty awesome, like an Andrew Wyeth painting — with zombies.
In the clip that was released, Rick Grimes is using a rock to kill zombies. Are they running low on ammo?
We’re going to see them run short on pretty much everything this season. It’s going to be a desperate season for our cast. Ammo, food and supplies are going to be scarce, which of course makes it much more fun.
Does the high ratings set by the first season, with only six episodes, put you under pressure for the longer second season?
If we were just coming back for six episodes, it might be more pressure. But we’re confident if you liked the first season, you’re going to really like the second season. It’s everything you liked about the first season, but more of it.
Does the second season follow the comic book more or less than the first?
It’s about as close as the first season, which in my opinion is very faithful to the comic book. The first season took a huge departure in the last episodes. The overall story line is very much taken from the second collection. But there’s also going to be things in there that come out of left field that will leave you completely shocked.
Anything more you can tell us?
We’ve got a tremendous amount of tension between Rick and Shane, with them butting heads. We’ve got Maggie Greene introduced, who’s a potential love interest for Glenn. We’ll possibly be seeing some romance. I think romance and zombies go well together.
Read more:
‘Walking Dead’ season two Comic-Con poster
‘Walking Dead’ first video clip from season two
Sounds exciting.
They’re unfortunately never going to kill off Shane, are they?
i think romance and zombies go well together too–wrote a book about it called ZOMBIELICIOUS.
Yeah, it was a great read. Oh wait, I didn’t read it…nobody did
Shane is my favorite character by far. He’s similar to walton goggins character, from the shiel. Oddly enough his name is Shane too. But it’s great having a strong character with such great faults. Always my favorite. Like locke from lost. Or boromir from lord of the rings. The fatal flaw.
How can they not kill Shane off? I absolutely love the series, but I’m a little miffed at the fact that they aren’t following the comic storyline closely enough…
I’m glad they aren’t following the comic closely. I always felt Shane got killed off too early.
Kirkman stated in another interview he always wanted to keep Shane alive longer, but couldn’t because he didn’t know if the book would be canceled.
I was ok with the changes the 1st few episodes but I think the last 2 went way to far off and IMO that made the show kind of boring. I suspect that’s why they changed the writing staff. I just hope before seasons end The Governor shows up. It will blow people away.
I’ve been thinking that by going the CDC route was a way to introduce some kind of scientific exposition earlier than waiting for “Dr” Eugene to come on the scene. Abraham and company are a long way off in the comic/show, and they got some kind of an explanation for why this is happening now rather than later. Does that make sense?
My question about Shane was always “Why are his pants pulled up so freaking high?”
THIS, for the win. I figure those pants have got to chaff out there in the hot Atlanta weather after a bit.
To be honest, I love the departures from the graphic novels. I’ve already read them. A little deviation keeps me from knowing exactly what will happen.
Deviation from the book is fine but Shane needs to go early in season two. And when I say go I mean dead. If they keep him around it gets away from what makes the comic so good, you just never know who is going to be killed. Any longer then the first couple episodes is milking it and would be disingenuous to the source material. Also, the trailer is 100% better then the teaser that came out last Sunday.
Your point makes little sense. Having Shane around adds to the fact that you never know who’s going to die
Why should they follow the comic too closely? That could be pretty dull, knowing exactly what is going to happen. Hope Shane sticks around for the long haul. Daryl is a great addition. The trailer looked truly AWESOME
I for one am glad that they are deviating somewhat from the comic. As someone who’s read the comic storyline from beginning to end multiple times and has the story memorized, I’m glad that I can still be surprised. The “Shane not dead yet” thing is great, I think, because now we don’t know if the final fates of the characters will always match the comic. (For example, I wondered if they were actually going to kill Andrea or Dale at the CDC when they were initally choosing to stay for the CDC’s firey end.) Speaking of which… while I was originally watching the CDC storyline I was kind of disappointed, since the comic never has had so much as a HINT what caused the plague… except for Eugene’s lies… but if you really think about it, even the guy in the CDC didn’t really know what caused the plague. The only thing the characters got out of it was some assurance that the zombies ARE actually dead people, and they don’t have to worry that they might just be sick and “curable”. And, I suspect that the general audience might have wanted some of the science spelled out for them. Doesn’t bother me very much now that I’ve thought about it.
To clarify, I meant that the characters now know that the zombies are truly, truly dead people that have been reanimated by the disease/virus/whatever and that there is nothing left of the original person’s mind and memories. It allows the series’ characters to know that they can “kill” the zombies without feeling guilt that they might be killing someone who just has a disease and may be cured someday.
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