AMC has cut the budget for ‘The Walking Dead,’ its showrunner Frank Darabont is out, and with Season 2 quickly approaching on October 16th  fans find themselves wondering what’s next. According to tvguide.com, the Second Season of ‘The Walking Dead’ will include pre-zombie apocalypse flashback scenes. These flashback scenes will show what it was like for Lori and Shane before the zombie apocalypse says Sarah Wayne Callies:

“It was fun to step out of the zombie world and show Lori with a BlackBerry. The scene underscores how deeply Lori and Shane love [her son] Carl, plus I hope it will finally put to bed the ridiculous rumors that an affair was going on before [Lori’s husband and Shane’s friend] Rick ‘died.”

One other major ‘human flavored tidbit’ is the new Season 2 Trailer that’s been released:

The Latest ‘Walking Dead News!’

The news is not all dark, however, as ‘The Walking Dead’ creator Robert Kirkman is now planning a prequel to the original comic book series. Does this mean a prequel for the AMC television series in the future?

Kirkman says he is considering a “Volume Zero” that would deal with how the plague that started it all came to be, and would also delve into the backgrounds of the main characters in the series. No release date on the prequel has been announced.

In other interesting news, Robert Kirkman is also working on a book titled: ‘The Walking Dead: The Rise of the Governor.’  The book, which Kirkman co-authored with horror genre vet Jay Bonansinga will hit shelves nationwide October 11th . You can look for a review of the book right here on ScienceFiction.com!

In some… slightly stranger news, Metal band Anthrax’s guitarist Scott Ian will appear in makeup as a “Walker” on the show. What the deuce is a Walker you may ask? well for some odd reason, the series does not refer to it’s “living impaired” cast members as “Zombies.” According to Scott’s Twitter feed, he is quoted saying:

“What have I wanted to do since 1978? Be a ZOMBIE! Full story on my day on ‘Walking Dead’ coming later!”

The firing of ‘The Walking Dead’ showrunner Frank Darabont.

AMC president Charlie Collier and head of original programming Joel Stillerman, on Thursday flew to Atlanta for a one-day visit to the production offices of ‘The Walking Dead’, where they met with a cast and crew roiled by the abrupt firing of showrunner Frank Darabont. ‘The Walking Dead’ cast and crew have reportedly been miserable since the latter part of July after a lunch meeting with AMC’s Vice President of Scripted Programming Ben Davis, who confirmed that Darabont was out.

According to sources, Darabont was sacked for standing up for a show that he believed in. These budget cuts were the “last nail in the coffin” for the series showrunner. AMC reportedly required Frank to produce additional episodes, over and above the 6 already on schedule for a total of 13. The network also expected the increased number of episodes to be made with less money.

‘Sons of Anarchy’ producer Kurt Sutter had Frank’s back on Twitter recently and added his 2 cents worth:

“No one else wants to f*****g say it, but the greed of ‘Mad Men’ is killing the other two best shows on TV – ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Walking Dead, ”

“Why Darabont got fired – [‘Mad Men”s showrunner Matthew] Weiner. He held AMC hostage, broke their bank, budgets were slashed, s**t rolled down hill onto Gilligan and Frank.”

“Darabont reacted strongly to slashed budgets. He made mistakes, he was fired. No creative in town will trust AMC to back up their artists.“

In an article from the Hollywood Reporter: “When Frank Darabont appeared on a Comic-Con panel July 22 to promote The Walking Dead, he didn’t realize he was a dead man walking. Neither did the cast and crew. Everyone was shocked when news broke three days later that AMC had taken the extraordinary step of firing Darabont from the network’s biggest ratings hit.”

The network supposedly suggested that half of the episodes should be indoors. “So four days inside and four days outside? That is not the Walking Dead,” according to a show insider. “This is not a show that takes place around the dinner table.” That was just one example of what this person describes as “silly notes” from AMC. “Couldn’t the audience hear the zombies sometimes and not see them, to save on makeup?” The source says Darabont fought “a constant battle to keep the show big in scope and style.”

One insider said the cast and crew were stunned “at the duplicity of AMC” for using Darabont to promote the show just before firing him. Since Darabont was fired, there has been chatter on the set about the cast and crew possibly staging a work stoppage in protest. The agencies representing the show’s creative talent have urged them not to walk out, and no work stoppage has occurred thus far.

That’s the latest news that’s been happening with the show. Until next time, conserve water, turn out the lights at night, and always, always aim for the head.