Variety has announced that AMC is signing a development deal to produce a series based on Robert Kirkman’s Image comic book series, The Walking Dead.
Included in the discussions is Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont and Terminator producer Gale Ann Hurd.
“This is not about zombies popping out of closets,” said AMC SVP of programming, Joel Stillerman to Variety. “This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”
Of course, regular readers of the series know that the characters don’t always survive. In fact, the often shocking “anyone can die” theme of the book is often considered by fans and critics to be a hallmark. Speaking of a particular death from 2008, Newsarama’s Best Shots Team leader Troy Brownfield said Walking Dead held, “the most shocking page in mainstream comics this year. I’d figured for years that one of them would get it, but the other? And in that way? Heartbreaking. And creatively invigorating.”
The book, which began in 2003, dovetailed nicely with Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later to really help cement the zombie zeitgeist in comics. The tales of Rick Grimes and other survivors has led The Walking Dead to be Image’s top-selling series, even recently being used to promote other non-Kirkman written series from Image, including Chew and Viking.
UPDATE: Image Comics has released the following press release, confirming the Variety report and following it up with quotes from Kirkman about his admiration for Darabont. The press release promises more details to come, though, suggesting that maybe there’s a little more than just development limbo in store for The Walking Dead.
PRESS RELEASE – FRANK DARABONT RESURRECTS THE WALKING DEAD AT AMC!
AMC and Frank Darabont bring Robert Kirkman’s epic tale of human survival to the small screen!
12 August 2009 (Berkeley, CA) – As announced in Variety and Hollywood Reporter, AMC has signed on to bring THE WALKING DEAD to television screens. Image Comics’ epic tale of human survival in the face of a zombie apocalypse by writer Robert Kirkman and illustrator Charlie Adlard is being adapted as an ongoing television series by Shawshank Redemption and Stephen King’s The Mist director Frank Darabont.
“I’m a huge fan of Frank Darabont’s body of work and AMC has impressed me to no end with Breaking Bad and Mad Men,” Kirkman said. “I couldn’t be happier with THE WALKING DEAD ending up here.”
THE WALKING DEAD deal will bring Darabont in not only as Executive Producer, but also as writer and director on the adaptation. Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert from Circle of Confusion will also produce. While further information is under wraps, the plan is to keep the show extremely faithful to the Kirkman and Adlard’s comic book series.
More details on AMC’s adaptation of THE WALKING DEAD will be announced shortly.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Sounds fantastic. This is one comic book that should be a regular, weekly TV show, not a movie.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point this out, from the Variety article:
“Cabler is close to finalizing one of the richest development deals ever with Darabont to write and direct a series adaptation of the Image Comics graphic novel series “The Walking Dead,” penned by Robert Kirkman.”
You know, I understand when people call Watchmen a graphic novel, even thought it’s the collected edition of a comic book series. I understand that because, hey, it’s just one book. But “graphic novel series?” Seriously? The phrase “comic book” is THAT toxic?
August 11th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Darabont and Hurd? Now that’s a production power team. Very exciting news, congratulations and best of luck to Robert Kirkman regarding the development, you’ve got my viewing figure.
August 12th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Very nice!
How about the wonderfully Lost Dr. Daniel Faraday as Rick.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:38 am
I hope this comes to pass. The comic is everything I’ve ever wanted a zombie story to be. As long as Kirkman is one of the show writers I think there’s a lot of potential!
Egg Embry
http://www.ComicsByEgg.com
August 12th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Smart and sophisticated… It’s post apocalyptic for Christ’s sake.
What, are the Zombies reading the Wall Street Journal and talking about their port folio while sipping Starbuck’s?
As long as AMC shows us Zombie head shots and people tripping while trying to get away then I’m all for it… I’m just not much for Zombies wearing polos and playing golf.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Wow!!! Man im happy!!! One of the best comic book series i have read! I hope they don’t screw it.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:55 am
Hmmmm…. interesting…
August 12th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Sweet. I had hoped for HBO but AMC has proven themselves with Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Looks like a good fit to me. Hope they stick close to the comic for the fist arc at least.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:03 am
I wish more people understood the difference between development and production. The author of this article uses them interchangeably. A project can be in development for years before it’s actually greenlit and enters production. Or it may be shelved before that happens as the majority of projects in development are. I love TWD, but a development deal, while it’s a necessary first step, doesn’t mean we’ll ever actually see a show.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:41 am
AMC has a chance to have the next “LOST” except The Walking Dead has vastly superior writing, but at the end of the day people who produce TV shows know little of art so this show will never come to fruition. Sad that.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:52 am
I sure hope that they don’t make it too similar to Romero’s last flick – which was pretty middling. If it is in a style similiar to the Shawshank film itself but with more realistic zombie/survivor themes – im all for it.
Kirkman’s great. I hate reading those single comic issues – always leaves me hanging and wanting more. Thank God for the huge omnibus – got my fix a good long steady while!
August 12th, 2009 at 7:07 am
OUTSTANDING!!! I hope it happens. This series has HBO Original written all over it. But AMC won’t be bad, just a bit less graphic. Now if someone will just turn “Scalped” into a TV series…
August 12th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Weird. my friends were thinking about a Walking Dead show 2 weeks ago. how it would work and things like that
August 12th, 2009 at 7:51 am
If this goes through, I kind of hope they keep it black and white. Darabont’s B&W cut of The Mist was excellent.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:59 am
I love the Walking Dead comic book, but i’m unsure how much of what Kirkman has written will make it to air.
The first arc where they’re tooling around in the RV might stand a chance, but when you start getting into the truly disturbing parts, not a chance. Just try and pitch the moment where Michone tortures the Governor or when Tyrese is decapitated or the kids start killing each other.
Kirkman gets away with ALOT in print, but television won’t be as forgiving.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Is it going to be in black and white?
August 12th, 2009 at 8:36 am
But will it be in color or black & white?
August 12th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Best. News. Today.
Good question about it being in B&W…. one can only hope!
August 12th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Of course it will be in color. Hollywood (and that includes tv) couldn’t sell a black and white tv series. Heck, they can hardly make a black and white movie successful ( all props to Sin CIty for being the exception to the rule). However, this being a project on a cable it might have some more freedoms than if it were on one of the big three networks. However, I still feel pretty strong in my opinion that it will be in color. But, being on cable the series creators can push the envelope a little bit more. That freedom has more to do with what the creators can say and do than whether to film in black and white. Look at the Shield, Damages, and Nip/Tuck for example. Those shows can get away with some things that a big three network could never do.
As far as casting goes, I don’t care one way or the other. As soon as it is announced who will play who everyone and their mother will be up in arms over the decisions. If you remember correctly a vast amount of people said that there was no way that Heath Ledger could play the Joker. I am sure those same people would never admit it today, but if you go back into the archives for articles and read the posts not too many people were happy. Then the movie comes out and everyone is ” Ledger is the only one who can play the Joker,”Ledger nailed the role”,etc. etc. If I were going to try a dream casting I would like to see Mark Valley as Rick. I know, I know, he is going to be in the Human Target. I can only hope that when the Human Target gets cancelled (and it will be cancelled. Five dollar bet on that one ) it will be before casting on the WD show and the series creators can hire him to play Rick. Hey, this is dream casting here.
The only thing that I wish that the series creators would do is to rewrite the beginning of the series. All Kirkman did was steal the opening of 28 Days Later. Instead of a bike messenger in a coma who awakens to a zombie(ok I know not technically zombies) apocalypse Kirkman made it a cop who awakens from a coma to a zombie apocalypse. I almost did not go on reading, but I am glad I did. It is a great series, well written for the most part. If the series creators can capture just a little of the magic it should be a win, even for a genre tv show.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Great news, hope all this can come to fruition, and by the time it (if) gets adapted, another year or more of writing will be done on the comics and they will be ahead.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:25 am
it isn’t that “comic book” is so toxic to the mainstream press, but rather it’s so toxic to the comic book world itself.. it’s comics, fandom and pros, who have long held a collective chip on their shoulder regarding ‘mainstream acceptance’ that has pushed ‘graphic novel’ so hard, that anyone not a fan would now immediately assume that is what it’s called. i personally long for the days when comics were pushed as escapism, and not ‘seasons’, or tpbs with ‘dvd-style extras’, and so forth.
August 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
W, I think you’ve got a point there, or we wouldn’t have OGNs – which is kind of redundant.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
AMC is the best channel next to HBO to do this show. The recognize quality.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Awesome news!! Always thought that Walking Dead would be perfect for a TV series, and finally someone see it, with the comics printed so far, you could do at least 3 seasons, well, in the way I see it of course.
Peace.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Two of the greatest producers on one of the greatest comic series… I hope this works out!
August 12th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
START CASTING TODAY! – Kirkman’s book is already on the premier “fantasy casting” site Storycasting (here’s a link: http://tinyurl.com/m3an3w ) where all the fans can start the casting process. Let AMC know who YOU think should play the roles! Show your support and rush this project out of development and into production!
Storycasting.com – “for the movie in your mind”
August 12th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Great news ,I’ve been waiting for this since I read the first trade.Second piece of great news today after hearing about the new DH Conan BWS Hardcovers.
August 12th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I want Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) as Rick.
August 12th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Well let’s see since we are dream casting… I want Tom Cruise as Rick. Keira Knightly as Lori. Jaden Smith as Carl. John Cho as Glenn. Ben Kingsley as Dale. Tyrese Gibson as Tyreese. Jimmy Smits as the Governor and Thandie Newton as Michonne.
It’s dream casting. That’s all it is. It’s about silly to start jumping the gun saying who should be in and who should not. It’s not like the casting directors go straight to the geek boards to find who should play who in what.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I direct your attention to the GRR Martin blogs and the Westeros forum, where the directors of the new HBO project – based on Martin’s Game of Thrones – partnered with the Westeros “geek board” members to arrive at a semi-consensus on casting. And it was a horrendous task, because Westeros doesn’t have actor photos or a built-in ‘casting/voting engine’ such as Storycasting has. Did the fanbase have contractual options on casting? Of course not. Did the HBO folks ignore the fans? Absolutely not – they knew they couldn’t, if they wanted the project to move forward. So, it’s not at all too early to start talking about who might be a decent fit for the roles. Film and TV companies are clearly shifting toward books, comics, and video games as the source for known-good stories, and part of what they get is an idea of what the characters look like in the minds of the fans. Sure, there are limits – some contractual, some financial, some just timing – but a casting director is silly to be shooting in the dark when an eager fanbase is willing to tell you what they see, for free. So, go and cast, and let the people at AMC know where to find your opinions.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
This is something that would work very well as a series and I’m glad that’s the direction they are planning to go with. A black and white look would be nice but if it’s color I’m not going to complain.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I am sure somewhere in that run on sentence Mr.Reid had a point. Too bad it was lost in a mess of a post. I did manage to pull something out of the last sentence. Sure opinions matter. But opinions are like @ssholes. Everyone has one and they all stink. So, sure we can all say who we would like to see. It’s fun to do. It hardly ever works out that way. I am glad that it doesn’t sometimes. If people outside the studios had there way we would not have had Heath Ledger as Joker, Michael Keaton as Batman and I am sure more than one person was not happy with the casting of Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man. What about Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. There wasn’t a person out there that would have picked him since no one knew who the frack her was before X-Men. The studios do not go to the internet to see who they are going to cast for what projects. Sure, they may go to the internet for research, but not for casting. “Oh, look HaloBob545@gmail.com thinks so-and-so should play what’s his name.” Doesn’t work that way. What happens is that actors agents send them on auditions. If the casting folks like an actor they go from there. For someone as huge as Denzel Washington they don’t audition anymore. Anyhoo…. casting directors, producers, directors, they are the ones that determine who gets what.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Wilbur, I’m right there with you. I’ve had many of conversations with friends about this in the past…Peter Krause should without a doubt portray Rick. Period.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
they could do black and white if they made it feel more like a twilight zone, creepy kind of thing. if they made it like heroes, which depends on beautiful people in desperate situations looking fabulous, it wont work in mono.
but yeah, for real, black and white or stfu.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I agree with Fletcher, as the studio won’t care who we want to play in the roles. However it is still fun to think of who we see in the different roles, I would like to see new people (no names) take the roles and let the story and the writing be what makes the show. From Rick to Carl the cast can be completly new. Eiter case we have time…I myself would love to audition to be part of this and or World War Z.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
(short sentences…) I’m not saying that the studios will use the exact actors selected by the fanbase. They don’t usually use the actors selected by the author, either. My point is that the studios DO want, need and use input. They want to know the KIND of actors to use for the roles. The fan’s choices indicate archetypes. They do this by choosing known actors as representative of the character. Suppose the majority of the fans indicate a slender male with a wide mouth. The studios are probably going to use unknowns – but they’re not likely to select a big, wide guy with small features. So, fan input is valuable as an indicator, as the GRR Martin project indicates. This thread got off-track when it was said to be too soon to provide that feedback. I happen to disagree. And I wouldn’t characterize the studios as models of inspired casting. The Joker and Iron Man choices are very much the exception. On the other hand, Peter Jackson was a fan of Tolkein. Almost everyone he selected was also a fan. They KNEW what the characters should look like – fans know that stuff. Of course AMC will make some casting choices the fans won’t like. But why not let them know what you’re thinking about, up front? You might get some better casting for a favorite series. And maybe YOU know the unknown that would be perfect – aren’t you going to tell them?
August 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I read the GRR Martin board ( after I googled it since I had no idea who that was. Sorry, not into the fantasy thing at all. Not a crack on anyone or anything, I just don’t enjoy reading fantasy.) The blurb said that the producers had promised to read what was posted. Nothing about considering anything that was posted. The studios don’t need boards or fans to tell them who to cast. They have scripts that tell them what a character would and should look like and sometimes they don’t even follow that. A good example is Interview with the Vampire. When Ann Rice wrote the book she had pictured Rutger Hauer in the role of Lestat. Many years later when the movie was green lit Hauer was either not available, too old, or the studios did not care what Rice had to say. Some people do not realize that just because someone wrote something they do not have the power to cast roles or veto the choice of actors. It’s all in the contracts. The studio will cast who they can and who they think fits the role. Another example is the casting of Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin in Daredevil. Another example is Brandon Routh as Superman. The fans didn’t cast him because they had no idea who he was. Same goes with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. And of course the producers and creators will always say that they are fans of whatever and they really listen to the fans. Which I think is only a ploy to placate the fans. But anyhoo…the point that I was making to begin with is that it was to early to start dream casting. There has been no mention of any start times for productions, scripts,.etc. Which means that WD is not even in the preproduction phase.
Dream casting is fun, but that’s all it is. The studios will cast who they can. Things such as hair and eye color (which I have read by more than one fan that so and so shouldn’t play a character because they don’t have the right hair color or eye color) can be fixed. Even weight can be fixed. The guy that played the Blob in Wolverine is not fat. In fact he is pretty diesel.
If the powers that be really listened to the fans Heath Ledger would have never been cast as the Joker. Every fanboy was up in arms over that. None of them wanted him to play the role and did not think that he could. Go back to those posts and see how many people really thought that he could do the job. Very few of them though that he could. Now those same people are joining everyone else in saying Ledger is the only one who could play the Joker. I point this out because it proves the point that the studios cast who they want not who the fanboys want. And thank God that they don’t listen to them.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:08 am
@ Kyle Garret – All long running (eg not limited series) are graphic novel series also. It all depends how you read it, personally I’m an uber geek so I but the WD issues as well as collected softcovers (eg graphic novels) – on issue 61 in comics, and book 8 in graphics. Then you’ve got the UBER UBER geeks who buy all that PLUS the hardcover collections.
@gpaulr – You’ve obviously never read this book nor any zombie media that isn’t horror. Zombies stories are RARELY horror and moreover focus on the sociological issues – they are about humanity after society’s end.
How can a zombie story be smart and sophisticated? By intelligently dealing with issue that would arise after the complete break down of normal social boundaries and circumstances.
If all you’re interested in is some cheap gore effects get yourself on some cheeseball 80s Wes Craven
October 19th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I really hope they use unknowns for the cast, then it wont be a problem when most of them get killed off. At least I hope they wont have a problem with killing anyone off at anytime, the only other tv show I know of that has done that is Oz and that made it really unique.
November 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Man, I think that HBO or showtime should have gotten this. The comic has some brutal stuff in it I hope they don’t skimp on the blood and guts. it is after all still a zombie comic.
December 7th, 2009 at 1:36 am
matthew fox as the lead.
the guy looks like the main protagonist and his talent is going to waste on “lost”
February 13th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Brian Bedell as Rick Grimes!!! Check out this video!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS_5FV-W20g
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