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.