"The Walking Dead" Season 2 Updates

Filming started last month for the October premiere, so I figured it was time for a thread dedicated to updates regarding the upcoming second season.

SpoilerTV posted earlier this month a series of five behind-the-scenes videos, along with eighty-three set photos. Various websites have picked up differing numbers of these photos for their own articles.

We also have a couple official videos from AMC: A featurette entitled "The First Zombie of Season Two" and the season's first clip, showing Rick taking down two zombies.

On the interview front, Andrew Lincoln talked to IGN back in May about Stephen King writing an episode for season two; AMC's blog interviewd season two premiere director Gwyneth Horder Payton; and E! Online recently talked to comics creator Robert Kirkman.

In casting news, it was announced last month that Pruitt Taylor Vince (Deadwood's Mose Manuel) is joining the show as Otis, while Scott Wilson and Lauren Cohen will be Hershel Greene and Maggie Greene, respectively.


Edited to add: For a breakdown on which links in this post contain information that could be considered spoilers, read this post.

 

I saw on lastnight's Breaking Bad where they showed a sneak peak clip that Rick get's all rock happy on some zombies.

 

Yes. I also noticed that Rick was looking a lot more worn down in the clip. That could be just him being tired from a big zombie fight. Or it could be, and I hope it is reflective of the

Spoiler: walking dead comic books

deterioration of the character we get in the comic book

.

 

This season is supposed to be twice as long as the first, correct?

 

It'll be a cable-standard 13 episodes, rather than the 6 of the first season.

 

13 is considered cable standard? I thought that 20 was the norm?

 

Maybe youre thinking of network tv which is roughly 22 episodes. Cable and Premium Cable have been 13.

 

2 random questions:
Which of the links are NOT spoilers (and i would consider the first few minutes of season2 to NOT be spoilers; the return of any characters in season 1 that "disappeared" would not either....however, if someone that was alive is killed....)


More random -- other than subscribing to cable, was there any other way to get The Waling Dead (like Hulu or Netflix)....we're thinking of dropping cable/dish, but definitley want to see the next season of Walking Dead

 

Interviews:

• The Kirkman one has some answers that could be considered spoiler-worthy, though I think they're vague - mostly just related to naming future locations and the name of one future enemy. The first video at this link is the "first clip." The second one is a "behind the scenes" video with Robert Kirkman and does not have any spoilers either.
• The Horder-Payton one does not (there's an interview with Darabont linked to at the bottom of that article that does have spoilers - some of which are like the ones in the Kirkman interview, but also a big one).
• The Andrew Lincoln video interview does not at all.

Videos:

• The "first clip" does not; it's exactly what ObiWanShinobi described.
• The "First Zombie of Season 2" featurette does not; it's about make-up, naturally.
• The set videos at SpoilerTV do not; they're all of vehicles and zombies moving around.

Photos: I don't really think any of these would be considered spoilers, either, because they're basically just pictures of people, buildings, vehicles, and so on.

Cast announcements: I don't think the link about Pruitt Taylor Vince contains anything that could be considered a spoiler (again, just a small location mention). The article about Scott Wilson and Lauren Cohen gives a short description of their characters, a small mention of how Cohen's character will fit into the group, and one piece of information that could certainly be considered a spoiler (though it doesn't name specific characters and I don't think would surprise anyone). There's also a "behind the scenes" video (same one) on both of those articles that does not have any spoilers.

Probably just the typical VOD options, like iTunes or Amazon Video.

 

(Apologies for this making two posts in a row...)

I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong!) this is our first in-show still from the second season.

 

A new Hollywood Reporter article has several quotes from various unnamed sources regarding Darabont's abrupt and unexpected departure from the show, including speculation that AMC was looking for a pretext to remove him and found it when Darabont insisted on attempting to save an episode edit that had been turned in by its director with "unusable footage."

 

It's highly amusing to watch AMC shoot itself in the foot over and over again.

 

Typical management idiocy. It won't be amusing if they kill a good show, though.

 

I don't get it. What's the point of developing original shows like Walking Dead if you don't give the showrunners the freedom and budget they need to do it well?

 

They've really reversed course pretty hard from just a year or two ago. What quickly became an equal to HBO in terms of dramatic programming (Mad Men, followed by Breaking Bad) soon transformed into a network showing the critically-panned The Killing, the total mess that was The Prisoner, the one-season wonder Rubicon -- not to mention contract negotiations for Mad Men AND Breaking Bad which nearly broke down and sent the series to other networks.

 

AMC's actions are even more confounding when you consider the fact that The Walking Dead has been the most widely viewed and successful show that AMC ever had, starting at 5.3 million viewers with its premiere rising to above 6 million viewers for its finale. It's rare for a show's ratings to grow over time -- they usually drop.

Why fire the show director and slash the show's budget by $250,000 per episode?

At least the show's new commander-in-chief had been brought aboard for season 2 for quite a while now, and Robert Kirkman is still also an executive producer. All is not lost yet.

 

AMC probably believes the series will not show continued growth in the ratings, and a budget cut is one way of maximizing profits.

Releasing Darabont probably saved them most of the 250k right there. Even producer salaries are factored into the cost of a series.

 

But isn't $3.4 million per episode extremely cheap anyway for a show like that with DVD potential and possible broadcasts outside the US?

 

Most genre series are produced with a 1.5 to 3 million per episode budget. 3.4 million is on the high side.

 

Wow, that is high. Did they build a full-scale model of Atlanta or what?