AMC ("Mad Men") has greenlit "The Walking Dead," a resurrection of the Image Comics graphic novels by Robert Kirkman and illustrators Tony Moore/Charlie Adlard, for Oscar nominated writer/director Frank Darabont ("The Green Mile"), marking AMC's first foray into full ownership of one of its series.
AMC has ordered six episodes of the 'zombie' series based on a pilot written/directed by Darabont. Executive producers of "Walking Dead" are Darabont, creator Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion.Funding will be provided in its entirety through AMC parent Rainbow Media.
"Walking Dead" starts shooting in June in Atlanta, sacheduled for an October debut.
Since its debut October 2003, Image has so far published 69 issues of "TheWalking Dead", with steadily increasing sales on single issues, trade paperbacks and hardcover collections.
Premise of the comics follows 'Rick Grimes', a small-town cop from 'Cynthiana', Kentucky, his family and a number of hangers-on who band together to survive a land overrun with living-dead zombies.
As "The Walking Dead" series progresses, personalities shift under the stress of the impending 'zombie apocalypse'.
Click the images to enlarge...
