The Walking Dead News Round-Up

We have a few minor news stories from The Walking Dead, including the name of the first season 2 episode, comments on Frank Darabont's departure, and changes to the Rick Grimes character.

Season 2 First Episode Title: The first episode of the second season will be titled "Miles Behind Us" and is the same title used for the second volume of the comic book series. The first of season 2's thirteen episodes begins October 16th on AMC. [Source: TV Overmind]

Production Comments: John Stillerman, a senior vice president at AMC, recently commented on the departure of Frank Darabont as showrunner on The Walking Dead. While he didn't go into specifics regarding the reason for Darabont leaving, he did talk about the fact that the production has not been affected and that Robert Kirkman remains on the show:

"I can confirm that Robert Kirkman, who's the creator of the comic book series and somebody we consider to be the steward of the brand, will be continuing on in his role as full time writer and executive producer... there's just an incredibly talented cast, writers' room, and crew, not the least of which is our Emmy nominated special effects guru Greg Nicotero, who are all working incredibly hard to facilitate a seamless transition into the rest of Season 2... And I can report that production is not going to miss a beat, and we're going to make our air date." [Source: Salt Lake Tribune]

Rick Grimes Character Changes: **SPOILER WARNING** For those who are wondering when we'll see Rick Grimes get his hand chopped off, Robert Kirkman says that it may not happen on the show:

"One thing I'm adamant about is that I don't think we should cut Rick's hand off. When I'm writing the comic book I don't think about what I'm doing, I go 'Oh it'd be really cool if they cut his hand off right now, that'd be pretty shocking!' I do it, and then I write five issues later, 'Rick opens a can of peas. I didn't even think that through!" [Source: CBR]