Ex-showrunner Frank Darabont is gearing up for his next show and, if the casting works out, it could spell the end for one of the characters of ‘The Walking Dead’. Darabont is currently in early production for a new crime drama for TNT called ‘L.A. Noir’. The new show is a period drama set in the crime-ridden streets of 1940’s L.A. It is based on the book ‘L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City”.
Variety reported today that Jon Bernthal, who plays Shane Walsh on AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’, is in talks to play the lead on ‘L.A. Noir’. If Bernthal gets the lead role on a new show, I doubt he’ll have it in his schedule to blast both zombies and mobsters. So what does that mean for Shane on ‘The Walking Dead’? Only time will tell but, since Shane only made it half a dozen issues into the comic book series, it won’t be a shocker to comic readers if Shane is killed off.
Of course, Shane surviving for longer in the ‘Walking Dead’ television series than in the comic has led to some storylines that never happened in the books. To avoid spoiling anything for readers who haven’t caught up with the show, I’ll not give specifics, but Shane’s story arc in the show has gotten so tense that there isn’t a good way for it to end without him either leaving the group or dying.
If Bernthal does exit ‘The Walking Dead’, it’ll be interesting to see where AMC takes the story since Shane is the main cause of danger for Rick Grimes and his group of survivors… other than the hordes of undead of course.
I guess we’ll find out when the ‘L.A. Noir’ casting begins to play out. Stay tuned for more details as we get them.
