'The Walking Dead' Returns: Five Things You Need to Know
by Richard Sharp
We're such suckers for zombies here at Yidio. Maybe it's the way their rotting flesh glistens in the moonlight, the sexy animalistic odor they emit, or their passion for our brains that we love so much.
Either way, we're beyond excited to see them return this weekend for a second season of "The Walking Dead" on AMC.
With a great cast (living and undead), tremendous source materal (a graphic novel series created by Robert Kirkman) and an hour every week to lay out one of the most impeccable detailed apocalyptic visions ever put on the small screen, "The Walking Dead" is something special, and the premiere is going to be quite the event.
To get you ready for the season two premiere, we've put together a list of the five things you need to know about the show, complete with some photos of season two from AMC and a preview clip from the premiere.
Check them out below:
#1: Oh, It’s On
First things first: “The Walking Dead” returns to AMC for its second season this Sunday October 16 at 9/8c, with a whopping ninety-minute premiere episode and a post-episode talk show to boot!
The post-game talk show (called, cleverly enough, “The Talking Dead”) will be hosted by G4’s Chris Hardwicke and will air after the encore presentation of the show. It will features fans, actors and producers discussing what happened on the episode and answering questions. Talk about social television!
Season two of “The Walking Dead” will strangely be split up into two segments – one starting Sunday and running through late-November/early December and another segment starting off in February when “Med Men” will most likely kick off again.
It’s a weird move by AMC, but at least we’ll get 13 episodes out of the deal instead of the super-short first season.
#2: There’s Still Time to Catch Up
Netflix recently (just in time, in fact) procured the streaming rights for “The Walking Dead,” including the entire first season.
While it was exciting enough to warrant ridiculous ratings and a hell of a cult following, the first season of the show was really short – like six hour-long episodes short – so you still have plenty of time to watch it from beginning to end in preparation for the glorious and gory return of the show.
#3: Season Two Production Drama
In a shocking decision that rocked the industry, showrunner and executive producer Frank Darabont, who was the mad genius behind season one of the show, decided to call it quits and walked off the set, leaving production of season two somewhat up in the air.
Or so it seemed at first. In reality, The Hollywood Reporter and others claimed that Darabont was canned from the show over constant battles regarding dramatically decreasing budgets for the ratings-smashing series, leading some to believe the network had suffered so dearly from their negotiations with “Mad Men” that new ratings darling “The Walking Dead” was going to suffer as a result.
But the show must go on, and second-in-command Glen Mazzarra, who had formerly served as Executive Producer for “The Shield,” took over for Darabont. The graphic novel creator Robert Kirkman, also took on an expanded role during production of season two.
Which leaves us where we are now, with a new season two in the can. Will the show suffer form the ouster of its creative center? Can a little extra of comic book creator Robert Kirkman's creativity help fill the gap? We shall see.
#4: Where We Left Off (If You’re Still Catching Up - Spoiler Alert)
Here’s the nuts and bolts of season one from AMC:
“The Walking Dead tells the story of the weeks and months that follow a pandemic zombie apocalypse. County Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) travels with his family and a small group of survivors, constantly in search of a safe and secure home. But the constant pressure of fighting off death on a daily basis takes a heavy toll, sending many to the lowest depths of human cruelty. As Rick struggles to keep his family alive, he will discover that the overwhelming fear of the survivors can be far more dangerous than the mindless walkers roaming the earth.”
Last season didn’t exactly end on a high note. After finding their way to the CDC in Atlanta, and actually making it inside the ridiculously fortified compound thinking they’d found the answer to their prayers, Rick, his friend Shane (who had been secretly boinking his wife, played by Sarah Wayne Callies), and the rest of the survivors find that there’s still no cure to be found, that the compound is set to self-destruct, and that the lone remaining CDC employee (Dr. Jenner) living in the compound is in fact willing to die inside the soon-to-be-destroyed building.
As season one came to a close, the CDC exploded, and Plan A had officially been obliterated. In season two, it’s back to the drawing board for the remaining survivors, who have now splintered as a result fo the CDC debacle.
Will they come together to survive, or will it all turn into a dag-nasty smorgasboard of zombified human brain-gorging? We'll take either one, frankly.
#5: What Happens in Season Two
As our writer Andy Neunschwander puts it “Season two looks to promise a much more raw, primal interaction between human and zombie. The hunt is on, but Rick and his crew aren't going to go down without a fight.”
At the C2E2 conference in Chicago earlier this year, cast member Jon Bernthal (who plays Shane on the show) said that, not too surprisingly, many of the most serious dangers the remaining humans face will come from within.
“In this season, you’re going to see that these people are a lot more dangerous to each other than the zombies are,” said Bernthal.
As far as his character, Bernthal said, “I think we’re going to see a guy who’s lonely when season 2 starts. It’s a different kind of loneliness. He’s not lonely because he’s far away from the people he loves, he’s lonely because he’s right with the people he loves and he can’t be with them the way that he wants to. And I think that kind of loneliness makes you capable of doing some pretty heavy stuff.”
In that same event Laurie Holden (Andrea) talked about the end of Season One and how the grief she felt will likely fuel her character in Season Two.
“I think the only reason Andrea left the CDC is because she didn’t want Dale’s blood on her hands. I think that she desperately wanted to check out and be with her sister. She’s lost everything and she has no love in her life, and I think there’s going to be a lot of resentment towards Dale in Season Two. I know that what he did was very selfless and loving, but I don’t think Andrea can see past her grief right now.”
She also provided a glimpse at where the characters are headed in the second season.
“I know we are going to get to Hershel’s farm in Season Two. But I can’t wait to get to the prison. Tyreese and Michonne and The Governor -- we’ve got some very bad ass people we are going to meet, but I don’t think we will get to the prison in season two because there is a lot to do, but we haven’t read the script so we don’t know.”
Before the farm, though, we know that the beginning of the second season will have them headed off to Fort Benning, with a few unscheduled stops along the way.
Read more spoilers fromt he show's producers here.
Watch the trailer for the season two premiere of "The Walking Dead":