The Walking Dead News

Earlier this year we got a look at the first series of figures based off of The Walking Dead. McFarlane Toys will be creating figures for both the comic and TV series, and series 1 will feature comic versions of Officer Rick Grimes and Michonne, along with , Zombie Roamer and Zombie Lurker.

We had seen prototypes images before, but McFarlane Toys has released the official final images of each figure. Series 1 will be released in September, with the figures selling for $14.99 individually or $55.99 for the set. Continue reading to check them out...

We have two smaller news items regarding the second season of The Walking Dead tv series. First, TV Line has information on new characters that will be featured in the second season. It had been previously made known that Hershel’s Farm would be featured in season 2, and Hershel, his daughter Maggie, and Otis have been confirmed as characters in the upcoming season. There is no information on which actors are being considered for these roles at this time.

There has also been some talk from producer Frank Darabont that AMC may be cutting the budget for the second season of The Walking Dead to maximize profits: “Creatively I have no complaints thus far,... But I believe if they do move ahead with what they’re talking about, it will affect the show creatively ... in a negative way. Which just strikes me as odd. If you have an asset, why would you punish it?” [Source: THR]

The mentioned budget cuts have not yet been finalized by AMC, so hopefully this is something that gets resolved before development of the second season goes into full swing.

Last week, we covered the announcement of a new board game based off of The Walking Dead comic book series. Today, we have a press release announcing that another company is working on a Walking Dead board game based off of the TV series.

The Walking Dead Board Game will be available in September, allows 1-4 players, and will retail for $39.99. Continue reading for the press release, game details, and an image of the game board...

Spooky Empire's May-Hem horror convention will be running this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the The Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Some of the featured guests include Bruce Campbell, Anthony Michael Hall, Greg Nicotero, Ted Raimi, Norman Reedus, and Sean Patrick Flanery. There are also plenty of other guests who have been featured in The Walking Dead and The Evil Dead series.

In terms of special events, they are holding a zombie costume contest, a Walking Dead panel, a Bruce Campbell Q&A, multiple parties, live perormances, and more. A weekend pass will cost you $50, but if you are only able to attend a one day, they are also selling single day passes.

For more information on the event schedule, guests, and other details, visit: http://spookyempire.com/

The Walking Dead continues to expand into new media, including toys and videos games. You can also add board games to the list, as Skybound Entertainment and publisher Z-Man Games officially announced the development of a board game based on The Walking Dead. Continue reading to see the official press release and box art...

If you live in the Atlanta area or have no problem traveling to the Atlanta area, there is a zombie casting call for season 2 of The Walking Dead:

"Extra Casting Atlanta is starting casting for some featured zombie types — looking for men and women 18 – 60 — VERY slim builds ONLY some acting or movement experience is great – They will be posting for other roles soon but for now only very slim types and slim facial features for very specific roles, must be available to work on southside of Atlanta — email clear recent face shot and body shot to: twdextras@gmail.com "

If you caught any of the season 1 DVD extras, you'll know that they put all zombie extras through some "zombie school" training classes to turn you into the perfect zombie.

Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga have written the first of three planned novels based on The Walking Dead. Due out in September, the first novel is titled The Walking Dead: The Rise of the Governor and "details the back story of the villainous Governor, who in the comic book version of Kirkman’s zombie saga rules the small town of Woodbury with an iron fist".

Continue reading for the full product summary and cover art...

Earlier in the year, Telltell Games announced that it had partnered with Robert Kirkman to develop multiple games based off of The Walking Dead comic book series. Since then, details have been scarce except for the fact that they have a “multi-year, multi-platform, multi-title” deal and that the first title should be released in late 2011.

So, when can we expect to see the first bits of gameplay? According to Destructoid, Telltale plans to show off The Walking Dead game during the E3 Expo. The event takes place from June 7 - 9, and we'll see plenty of gameplay screens and videos from The Walking Dead game and numerous other horror titles.

In the meantime, here's Robert Kirkman talking about placing his faith in Telltale games and creating a zombie game that is true to the spirit of the comic : "...I can say that I picked Frank Darabont for the show and I picked Telltale Games because they are very familiar with the comic book … as opposed to just as, you know, zombies running around and cutting people’s heads off and stuff…. We are going to try to do something a little different that is a little more true to The Walking Dead. Knowing that they are that invested in changing what you might expect from a zombie game and really brining the emotion and drama of The Walking Dead to video games makes me trust them."

Robert Kirkman recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, giving a status update on the upcoming season of The Walking Dead, as well as clearing up some rumors that have been floating around.

It had been mentioned that Stephen King may be writing an episode. Here's where they stand with that deal:

"That’s been discussed a little bit. Everyone involved on both sides of that are very anxious to make that happen; AMC is excited; Frank Darabont is excited; I’m excited. I know Stephen King and Joe Hill are excited. We’ll see if we can make that come together. I can neither confirm nor deny. (Laughs.)"

The fate of The Dark Tower movie adaptation may be uncertain, but that doesn't mean that Ron Howard and crew haven't been busy over the past months looking for potential cast members. One name that had been rumored was Norman Reedus (Boondock Saints, Walking Dead) for the role of Eddie Dean and when MTV News interviewed him, it seemed like he's definitely had talks for a role in the film.

At this point, though, Norman knows about as much as we do. Supposedly, Universal was going to be discussing The Dark Tower series this weekend and would determine how to best move forward with the planned movie trilogy and TV series. Javier Bardem has committed to playing the lead role in the film, but everything appears to be on hold until Universal officially gives the green light, teams up with another studio, or lets Ron Howard shop the series to another studio. You can watch a brief video clip of the Norman Reedus interview at the source link below.

In February, Telltale Games announced that they had partnered with Robert Kirkman to develop multiple games based off of The Walking Dead comic book series. The deal was “multi-year, multi-platform, multi-title”, with the plan for the first release to be out later this year.

Telltale had run into issues in the past with the Xbox 360 licensing terms, so they had stopped releasing games for the platform, but it was announced yesterday that an agreement had been reached with Microsoft. Not only does this give Telltale Games the ability to sell all of their games over Xbox Live, but they have the option to sell collections of game episodes on disc.

McFarlane Toys announced their action figure line for The Walking Dead back in February, and they will be offering sets of figures based on both the TV show and the comic series. The first batch of figures have been revealed to include Officer Rick Grimes, Zombie Roamer, Zombie Lurker, and Michonne.

Series 1 will be released in September, with the figures selling for $14.99 individually or $55.99 for the set. While there are no preview images for the second series at this time, Entertainment Earth is already taking pre-orders for both sets and have listed series 2 as including Deputy Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Zombie Walker, and Zombie Biter. The second series of figures will be released on November and you can find out more about ordering all these figures at the source link below.

The folks at Collider recently got a chance to talk with Robert Kirkman about all things related to The Walking Dead. In regards to raising the bar on kills in season two of the TV show, he had the following to say:

"I can say, sitting here knowing what I know about the second season, that you can’t even see the bar because it’s been raised so much. There is all kinds of crazy stuff that is coming up. I’m really excited. I mean, you get 8 guys that like zombies that know they are doing a T.V. show like The Walking Dead, and they know that you can get away with the kind of things that we got away with on the first season. It really becomes just an effort to just find that thing that AMC is going to make us change. So we all sitting there going, “Oh, they are going to make us change that!” So there is a lot of cool stuff coming up."

He also talks about his involvement in the upcoming video game and says that it won't just be your traditional zombie shooter:

"I just had a meeting with them yesterday. I’m not writing the video game myself just because I don’t have time. I can say that I picked Frank Darabont for the show and I picked Telltale Games because they are very familiar with the comic book ... as opposed to just as, you know, zombies running around and cutting people’s heads off and stuff.... We are going to try to do something a little different that is a little more true to The Walking Dead. Knowing that they are that invested in changing what you might expect from a zombie game and really brining the emotion and drama of The Walking Dead to video games makes me trust them. But I’m overseeing everything."

You can read more about Kirkman's involvement in writing the TV show, upcoming projects, and digital versions of The Walking Dead comic series by clicking on the source link below.

On Saturday, Laurie Holden mentioned that Stephen King is currently in talks to write an episode for the second season of The Walking Dead. This has been confirmed in Entertainment Weekly directly by Stephen King, who mentions that he is interested in writing an episode for the second or third season.

Any episode he writes, however, will be written along with his son, Joe Hill. A horror author himself, Joe Hill has had success with multiple projects including the novel Heart-Shaped Box, as well as the Locke & Key comic series, which is currently being turned into a TV show at Fox. [Thanks STYD]

An adaptation of Max Brook's World War Z has been in development for some time now at Paramount. The plan is for Brad Pitt to star and produce, while Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) will direct. Unfortunately, like At the Mountains of Madness, it seems like there are some budget concerns with making a large budget, R-rated zombie epic. Vulture is reporting that if Paramount doesn't get someone on board to help with financing, that this film may not see the light of day:

"The film currently has a price tag of more than $125 million, and the studio is fervently searching for a partner to share the risk. Our sources tell us that if they can't find one, it's likely that Paramount will pull the plug on the adaptation of the Max Brooks book..."

In the second bit of censoring news for the day, Vulture also goes on to say that Marc Forster has agreed to deliver a PG-13 cut of the film. Don't go grabbing your pitchforks and torches yet, however. At the moment this is unconfirmed, and as you should know, things always change. I know The Walking Dead was able to show a lot on TV, but I really feel that it was because it was on cable and that the MPAA won't be as lenient. Let's hope this all works itself out in a way that we still get an R-rated big budget zombie movie.