Just a few hours after the announcement that Jon Bernthal is the first actor cast in the series based on Robert Kirkland's The Walking Dead graphic novels, comes the news that at least six episodes of the series will be produced to premiere on AMC as soon as October. The move will allow the series to take advantage of the Halloween season and AMC's annual "Fearfest."
Both fans of the graphic novel and new audiences should be pleased with the results, as there is some serious talent behind the camera. Frank Darabont, who wrote and directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, will both write and direct the first episode of The Walking Dead and serve as executive producer of the entire series.
It was Darabont whose vision for the show convinced AMC to give him six episodes instead of just one pilot, as was originally planned when the adaptation was announced back in January. And according to another executive producer on the series, Gale Ann Hurd (producer of movies such as the first three Terminators, Aeon Flux, and Punisher: War Zone), The Walking Dead should feel right at home with the rest of AMC's lineup: "we're taking our inspiration especially from Breaking Bad, in terms of character stories in a violent world," she said in an interview with the New York Times.
