"The Walking Dead" developed by Frank Darabont and AMC - Part 5

[Bat-Gasm]

Buy the hardcovers. They are fantastic. Trades are not bad though either.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Meh. Such are comics. There are plenty of comics characters that have been around for 60 years. Why are they still here? $$$.

Why is Kirkman going to continue his story well past his original themes? $$$.

I understand that, but with a lot of those characters, they're the Batmans, Supermans, Spider-mans etc. Superheroes that were created to run almost infinitely while we read their numerous crime fighting stories.

Kirkman has set up a series that feels like it needs to end at some point, mostly because it centers on a central group of characters and has been focused more on character development of those characters then an episodic "who are they going to fight this time?" kind of thing. I mean, as long as the writing's good, I won't mind, but I'd always rather the author end the series on a high note then dragging it through the dust someone has to take the poor thing out back and put it down.

 

[Sawyer]

Don't know if anyone posted this already, but...

Fearnet:

Thu., Mar. 29, 2012 11:00 AM PDT , by Joseph McCabe
Exclusive: 'Walking Dead' Showrunner Glen Mazzara on the Upcoming Season 2 DVD Set

Last week I chatted with the man behind AMC's The Walking Dead, executive producer Glen Mazzara, about the show's just-concluded record-breaking second season and what we can expect from its third season. Since I love you guys so damn much, I also asked Mazzara if he could share some details about the show's upcoming season 2 DVD set. And share he did! Find out what Mazzara told me after the jump.

Regarding The Walking Dead season 2 on DVD, Glen Mazzara remarked, "We don't have a release date yet for the season 2 DVD… There will be five commentaries – for the first episode, "Pretty Much Dead Already", "Nebraska", "Judge, Jury, Executioner", and the finale. There will be many deleted scenes with my commentary as to why they were cut. There will be a special bonus feature of cut material that we sort of turned into a little featurette. I think there's a lot of AMC's behind-the-scenes featurettes. There will also be, in the deleted scenes, I think it's almost twelve minutes of footage that was cut very early on. And I will do a detailed commentary as to why that was cut and why we didn't think it was pushing the story forward."

Look forward to hearing the commentary for "Nebraska", since it's the first post-Darabont episode. I wonder if they'll be upfront about it or just skirt the subject entirely.

 

[Man in the Suit]

They'll totally dance around it. I mean, they'll probably address it, but just they'll say what they've said in the past.

 

[Sawyer]

Times-Herald:

'Walking Dead' filming in Senoia regularly in month of May
By W. Winston Skinner

Zombies are coming back to Coweta County in May, but if you stay in Senoia, you’ll be safe.


At least that’s the plot of the next season of “The Walking Dead,” which will be filming in Senoia on a regular basis this year.


Mike Riley and Seth Zimmerman with AMC Television attended the Senoia City Council meeting on Monday — telling the council that the film series will be shooting in Senoia throughout 2012 and possibly in 2013, too.

“The Walking Dead” is in its third season and has filmed in Senoia and in other locations in Coweta County. Senoia has been a site for filmmakers including “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Pet Sematary 2” and television series including Lifetime’s “Drop Dead Diva.”

“Senoia’s going to become a major set for us,” Riley, location manager for the series, said. He has met with merchants and with Senoia city officials about the filming process.

“I’ve gone door-to-door. I’ve met all but two or three personally,” Riley said of the merchants. He said he has talked with merchants about “what we’d like to accomplish.”

While there has been some “Walking Dead” filming in Senoia in the past, the town is becoming a regular setting this season. “Senoia will become a town that is a sanctuary from the zombie apocalypse,” Riley said.

In the series, the town will be a place cordoned off from the zombie infested world outside. “You’re in a safe environment, If you’re outside it, you’re not,” Riley said. He said the town will be governed by “a benevolent dictator.”

The television crew will “build a temporary, movable perimeter wall,” Riley explained. Portions of Travis and Main streets will be closed to traffic at times during scenes that show the wall.

“It will look like a gate” made from “various paraphernalia — old tires, doors,” Riley said. The wall will be made so that is can be stored between episodes.

The block from Travis Street to Seavy Street “right now is being considered as our main set,” Riley said. An area of Johnson Street may also be used.

Some episodes may be almost entirely filmed in Senoia, and it is possible one or more episode might not be filmed in the town at all.

Cast and crew will arrive in Senoia on May 31 to film “the episode that premiers the town,” Riley said, “Once the town is established, it becomes a recurring location for us.”

“Walking Dead” has its principal set at Raleigh-Riverwood studio in Senoia.

For the first episode, “we’ll be filming in Senoia, for eight days,” Riley said. “We may be doing some filming at night in that episode. We may be filming at night for some of the other episodes, as well.”

Most filming will be done on weekdays.

While there is a general outline for the upcoming season, there are no scripts yet. Riley said he will know more about how much filming will need to be done in Senoia for each episode as the scripts are completed.

“We will have to control the traffic. Through traffic on Main Street will be diverted around us,” Riley said, adding that he is looking at alternatives for parking in the area.

Keeping daily life and commerce moving will be a priority, Riley promised. “How are people going to access these businesses? A lot of these businesses have back doors. Some of them don’t,” he noted.

“There are deliveries that take pace to the restaurants. There are deliveries that take place at Hollberg’s Furniture,” Riley said. UPS and similar companies “have to keep working,” he acknowledged.

The executive producer for “Walking Dead” is scheduled to arrive in Senoia today — to spend a few days. “Hopefully he’ll have some answers for us abut what he envisions in more detail,” Riley told the council.

Riley said grass would need to be left uncut in certain areas at times and said signs would be placed to let local residents know why the grass was high. He also said “anything we do to the buildings — anything we do to Senoia” will be put back in “as good or better shape when we pull out at the end of the season.”

Riley said the “Walking Dead” season of shooting will be different from what the town has experienced with previous productions.

“This is long-term,” he explained. “You’re used to having a film crew come in and shoot for week or two, and then they’re gone.”

The season long filming will involved “a sort of in-and-out process.”

Scripts typically are read five or six days before filming starts. “We have to move fairly quickly,” Riley said.

Riley expressed some concern about a requirement that the council approve the closing of streets. He said he hoped there could be “a little bit of flexibility there,” since filming needs could arise between council meetings.

He said the production will be using email to keep city officials and others in Senoia apprised of what is happening with “Walking Dead.” “We will constantly be updating that,” Riley said. “It’s really about keeping everybody informed.”

Ongoing filming like that envisioned in Senoia has been done in other places, including the Georgia city of Covington. “There was a way to make it happen through good communication,” Riley said of past experiences.

“There will be glitches. I’m sure there are thing that will happen that will not go well for someone,” Riley said. He said every effort will be made to avoid glitches – and to repair them when they do occur.

The season long filming is “something that can work well in Senoia,” Riley said. He said the process will provides a “positive economic impact for the city.”

Councilman Maurice Grover said once episodes are planned, a master plan can be shared with City Administrator Richard Ferry and Police Chief Jason Edens who have been authorized to make necessary decisions between council meetings.

Riley said ongoing productions develop a pattern. “That pattern will find its own rhythm when we get started,” he said.

He said he will be meeting with “a couple of merchants who have specific concerns” in the next few days. “We have a comfortable amount of time to figure this out,” Riley said.

“We’re excited to have you in Senoia. We’re excited that you’ve chosen us,” Grover said, pledging the town’s cooperation as filming proceeds.

Riley said the film company wants Senoia residents to feel the town in benefiting from the project “even though they may be inconvenienced from time-to-time.”

Riley said, “You’re helping us do this. We’re not going this by ourselves.” Based on the popularity of the season last year, Riley said it is likely “an influx of people” who are fans of the show will be finding their way to Senoia.

Looking ahead to 2013, he said “Walking Dead” is “right now scheduled to return next season” to Senoia. “I can only assume that if the ratings are good, we’ll be back,” Riley stated.

Senoia businessman and movie studio executive Scott Tigchelaar was asked if filming will create any difficulties for the Southern Living House this summer, which is expected to bring large numbers of tourists to Senoia.

“We don’t anticipate a problem,” he said. “It’s just going to add to the excitement in town and make the Southern Living House that much more of an attraction.”

Riley said a meeting will be held with merchants before May 31.

Senoia restaurateur Todd Baggarly praised the city for promoting the town as a location for filming and Tigchelaar for efforts to create tax credits that make Georgia attractive to filmmakers.

“This move is putting us on the map more than we have been in the past,” Baggarly said. “It’s just fantastic were sitting in the middle of it. As a merchant, I’m cooperating 100 percent with them.”

Baggarly was unconcerned about minor inconveniences that will doubtless come with filming a television series in town. “In all our jobs, we have headache or two,” he said.

Woodbury?

 

[Kane52630]

Times-Herald:

Woodbury?

So Senoia is Woodbury.

Senoia. The Perfect Setting for Zombies.

[YT]YJ4lghiiIAE[/YT]

 

[Sawyer]

TV Line:

Walking Dead Exclusive: Lauren Cohan Promoted to Series Regular For Season 3

Lauren Cohan is heading into The Walking Dead‘s third season with a most rare gift: job security.

The actress — who recurred throughout the AMC smash’s killer second season as Hershel’s eldest daughter, Maggie — has been elevated to a full-fledged series regular, TVLine has learned exclusively.

While the promotion would seem to indicate that Glenn’s sweetheart will figure prominently in the show’s upcoming third season, it by no means guarantees she’ll make it out of the season alive. Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn were both full-timers when their characters, Shane and Dale respectively, were whacked.

The Walking Dead‘s 16-episode third season, slated to premiere this fall, will likely be divided into two part (much the same way Season 2 was). “The idea is we will do eight-and-eight,” exec producer Robert Kirkman recently told TVLine. “Getting eight-and-eight will almost be like doing two seasons a year, which is cool.”

Cohan, meanwhile, is keeping busy during her hiatus. The actress is set to be “resurrected” on The Vampire Diaries on April 19.

Not surprised.

 

[Elevator Man]

^ Me neither. I like her character on the show.

 

[Kane52630]

Hopefully we get some Glenn/Maggie sexy time in the prison like in the comics.

 

[Tonicky]

I expected Maggie to become a series regular because of her comic counterpart. and that town looks pretty good for Woodbury.

 

[Elevator Man]

Check out the Dallas version of the TWD intro on YT. I don't think it's as funny as the "Growing Pains" version. But still very well put together.

[YT]zp5zpV3MkhA[/YT]

 

[Bat-Gasm]

Without certain cast members I wonder how AMC will change the intro.

 

[Sawyer]

The same way any other show does, I imagine...

 

[Sawyer]

There's a page on facebook campaigning for a TDW score soundtrack. Highly suggest you all give it a like.

 

[Sawyer]

Issue 100 cover

[YT]RP_NOuHMhsw[/YT]

 

[Bat-Gasm]

Very nice.

 

[Kane52630]

f***, I'm so behind on the comics. I think I stopped reading around issue #85.

 

[Sawyer]

Newsarama actually has a much larger view of it. Here.

It's just a beautiful cover. Well done, team TWD.

 

[Sawyer]

Shock Till You Drop:

Details, Cover for The Walking Dead Issue #100

Ever since the ever popular The Walking Dead television show, and the completely insane prices that the comics are going for, I wondered how long it would take Image to jump on the variant edition covers for the series. Well, in my opinion, they picked a good place to try it out.

For the 100th issue of The Walking Dead that hits shelves in July it will have a whopping nine different covers for the centennial issue.

Charlie Adlard will be providing the regular cover, a wrap around and a special chromium cover. In addition to the series artist these high profile names will be contributing to the mix: Todd McFarlane, Sean Phillips, Marc Silvestri, Bryan Hitch, Frank Quitely and Ryan Ottley.

Quite the assortment of artists that will bring something really cool to a special issue. Inside, you can check out a preview of Charlie Adlard's wrap around cover but be warned, potential spoilers for the comic series lie ahead. You'll get the joke when you see the cover.

Frank Quitely + The Walking Dead?

 

[Bat-Gasm]

I will probably buy 5 copies of the Quitely cover. That's just amazing. His work on especially Batman and Robin was always a reason to keep me buying. Interested in McFarlane as well.

 

[Sawyer]

I wonder if the guest cover artists will all be assigned a different character, kind of like what Dark Horse did when they did their first Serenity miniseries... artist 1 on Rick, Artist 2 on Carl, Artist 3 on Andrea, etc.

 

[Bat-Gasm]

Interesting idea. I'll def be at my store when it opens to pick them all up. This is going to be one to get for sure. I wish to god I could get my hands on #1. It's worth quite a bit, and it's not like it's Detective #27. I'm sure there are PLENTY of owners unaware of its value. Almost worth it to spend the $400-500 on Ebay, have it graded then flip it for $1200.

 

[Sawyer]

The Hollywood Reporter:

'The Walking Dead' Producers, Cast Reflect on Bloody Season 2, Tease What's Next
Jon Bernthal reveals that Shane's death was always in the cards, Dale's offing was "one for the walkers" and Season 3 will continue to take twists and turns from the comic series.
12:00 AM PDT 4/14/2012 by Lesley Goldberg

The cast and producers from AMC's zombie drama The Walking Dead reflected on death in the post-apocalyptic world during the show's bloody sophomore second year and looked to the future Friday during a lively panel at the TV Academy in North Hollywood.

Showrunner Glen Mazzara, executive producer/comic creator Robert Kirkman, exec producer Gale Anne Hurd and co-EP/effects supervisor Greg Nicotero were joined by cast members Andrew Lincoln (Rick), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Lauren Cohan (Maggie) and Scott Wilson (Hershel) during the two-hour panel where they looked back on the season that was and dropped cryptic teasers about Season 3. Here are 15 highlights:

1. Shane's death was always in the cards. "This end was always going to happen," Bernthal said, noting early conversations with former showrunner Frank Darabont about Shane's trajectory allowed him to be strategic with the way he played the character who walked the line between hero and villain for two seasons.

2. After coming out the victor during the "18 Miles Out" episode in which Shane and Rick finally come to blows, Lincoln would bet on his former on-screen rival to come out on top were the former cast mates to come to fisticuffs in real life. "He's a lot bigger than me and in a real fight, he'd win in seconds," Lincoln said to laughs.

3. Getting the call to go see makeup artist/co-producer Nicotero is the kiss of death. Bernthal and Wilson both recalled getting the word that they needed to pay a visit to the effects whiz to be outfitted with makeup as their characters were being killed off. "When actors get a call from me it's, 'Oh s---!'" Nicotero said with a laugh. The cast, meanwhile, have a "death dinner" to bid farewell their on-screen family members after shooting the episode.

3. Producers reaffirmed that they opted not to kill off Hershel as they'd originally intended because it didn't move the story forward. "We were just stepping over a body; it felt too violent, too gratuitous," Mazzara said. But nobody told Wilson as much as he'd already had the conversation with Nicotero that he was being axed and the actor just continued to get scripts. "I said, 'It's been fun,'" Wilson said, to which Bernthal immediately joked: "That's how you stay on? You say, 'It's been fun'?" As for whether Hershel will continue to be a "bad-ass with a rifle" in Season 3, Mazzara was less than forthcoming: "We'll see what happens in October," he deadpanned.

5. Dale's death was one for the walkers. Mazzara noted the series "really needed a zombie death" as it was running the risk of being safe and needed to have someone killed at the hands of the undead. "Dale was the only worthy sacrifice; people would see Shane's death coming but no one would see Dale's death coming," Mazzara told the audience, with Kirkman noting the loss of the group's moral compass added more suspense to Shane's eventual death in the following episode. The loss of the character -- whose comic counterpart outlived him by a mile -- will continue to be felt, mostly by Andrea and Glenn, Holden said. A fun fact: the scene in which Dale died wasn't rehearsed, at the request of episode director Nicotero.

6. Sophia's shocking death at the end of the Season 2 midseason finale took even series star Lincoln by surprise. "It felt like the Wild West," he recalled. "The carnage was shocking." The pain medication the actor was on at the time for an injured back "helped tremendously," he joked. Producers, meanwhile, took extra care to make sure young actress Madison Lintz had a good zombie experience, creating custom flavored zombie teeth for her to wear during the heartbreaking scene.

7. Carl is the anchor of the series, Callies said. Rick and Lori's continued struggle over how to raise their son in a post-apocalyptic world remains a source of contention for the on-screen couple. "There are days when Lori thinks the best thing I can do for this kid is find someone else to raise him and then there are days when she thinks I have to keep this guy [Rick] away from him, then there are days where I think I have to keep this guy [Shane] away from him," she said. "Every day it's a sense of being unearthed and uprooted from yourself."

8. Lori is a stranger to herself in the aftermath of Shane's death. Following a season in which her son was shot, she learned she was pregnant and her husband and son killed her former lover, Callies says the character has crossed so many boundaries that she doesn't recognize herself. Calling Shane's death a "necessary execution," Lincoln says the troubled couple are not at a particularly healthy point right now and questioned whether Rick has a breaking point. "His strength and resilience is extraordinary," he said. Added Mazzara: "It's an apocalypse, what are they going to do? They can't get divorced!"

9. The "Ricktatorship" was the end game for Season 2. After spending the first half of the season playing by Hershel's rules and rounding up zombies to keep alive in the barn, Rick had to make the transition from naive to practical. "You have to keep evolving," Lincoln said. "How do we define ourselves? How do we re-establish humanity?"

10. Glenn and Maggie's romance allows both characters to grow. The former pizza delivery guy started walking a little taller and valuing his skills more after Maggie reminded him of the value he brings to the group. "It's always good to have something to live for," Yeun noted. "It opens your character up."

11. Kirkman is testing AMC to see if the cable network has a limit with how disgusting the zombie kills can be. "It's my goal to get to that point, I want to know that limit," he said. Pushing the boundaries is something Nicotero clearly relishes, as the former Day of the Dead effects artist intentionally tested the network by peeling away a walker's face in a scene following a car crash this season.

12. Season 3 spoilers were at a minimum, despite Mazzara just having completed the script for the premiere. "It's pretty dynamic and action-packed with tons of zombies but also a lot of quieter moments and a lot of heart," he teased. "This is a group of survivors, a family that has come together and they have no good options, no place to go and they're really trying to keep themselves alive, and keep each other alive. You can see how desperate they are; they're clinging to each other. It's those moment of human interaction and heart that are important."

13. "The good stuff is coming," according to Kirkman. "For comic fans, they know the good stuff is coming, the really intense stuff with Michonne, the Governor and Woodbury [prison] really defined the comic book series and we haven't even gotten to that stuff yet," he said. "So now that we're getting to that stuff in Season 3, it's really going to change the show quite a bit."

13. T-Dogg (IronE Singleton) will continue to trend on Twitter during every episode -- "in a good way," Mazzara said. Acknowledging that the fan-favorite character is considered to have been under used this season, the showrunner explained T-Dogg has been intentionally quiet as he watches the insanity unfold around him.

14. The epic way in which Dale died in the comic series could still make its way onto the AMC drama -- for another character. In the long-running Image series, Dale winds up being bitten by a walker, kidnapped by cannibals and having his infected leg cut off and consumed before being set free and dying at Andrea's side. "There will be cases where something memorable like that will be displaced and given to somebody else," Kirkman said. "I'll hint that that actually happens in our first episode back in Season 3 -- there's something memorable that happened to a character in the comic is happening in the show in our first episode back and it's not the same character."

15. Daryl (Norman Reedus) will continue to grow. Carol's (Melissa McBride) "knight in shining armor" will continue to be Rick's right-hand man in Season 3. "It's interesting to put him in a position of power," Nicotero said. (Reedus had a wedding to attend Saturday and was unable to join the cast during Friday's panel.)

What were your highlights from Season 2 and what are you looking forward to seeing in Season 3? The Walking Dead returns in October.

1. lol at the writer thinking Woodbury is the prison.
2. T-Dog, a fan favorite? Really?
3. Why do I get the feeling that [blackout]Herschel will die comic Dale's death, with Maggie finishing him off?[/blackout]

 

[Zoken]

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Probably, he's a lot more open minded than comic-book Herschal if I recall correctly, so he won't be as disliked. Personally I'm looking for Tyrese, he had the slot that Daryl is filling right now. That will be an interesting situation, as Tyrese and Rick got on very well, Tyrese was educated and used to being respected, how would Daryl react to having to share that spot?

 

[Bat-Gasm]

I just hope we get the prisoners before the big G.