What’s better than zombies in movies? Why Zombies on the TV of course! At least I can only hope it’ll be better. Frank Darabont, director of The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, is developing the zombie comic series The Walking Dead for AMC. Darabont is also going to be directing, writing and producing the TV series.
The comic book series follows an ex-cop and follow survivors in a post-apocalyptic Zombie epidemic. The series has been critically hailed since it started back in 2003 and with Darabont developing the TV series one can only hope for the best.
The reason why a series about flesh eating zombies is on channel known largely for it’s movies and dramatic TV series? “It allows us to stay where we want to stay: in the world of smart, sophisticated storytelling,” says a senior VP for the network.
I find myself a little torn about this announcement. On one hand it would be nice to see a great series like The Walking Dead adapted into a live action format that isn’t condensed into a 2 hour long movie. On the other hand I fear for how the show might be altered to keep it from being too gory.
The series kills off main characters frequently in some extremely gruesome scenes, some of which just would not be possible to show on anything beyond HBO. You could change the deaths or just not have those characters die, but it would detract from the impact of their deaths and the realism the series displays.
In either case I look forward to it. Darabont is a great writer, and a great director. I have confidence he can make it work, even if he has to stick to some pretty heavy requirements for the network.