The Walking Dead Season 2 has begun production and writer/director.show runner Frank Darabont introduces a video from AMC that goes behind the scenes of the first day of production in his requisite Aloha shirt.
So what can fans expect from Season 2? According to an AMC interview with comic book creator and series writer Robert Kirkman, more of Shane (Jon Bernthal), a character who didn't last quite as long in the comic book iteration.
While we're mapping out this arc and figuring out this story, we'll pull something in from the comic and then we'll go, "OK, so how does Shane existing change this? What does Shane bring to the situation? What's going on with his character at this point and how does it affect this thing that's already existed." It's really neat for me to treat The Walking Dead TV show as an alternate dimension where Shane lived, and there's all this different stuff happening because of that. Shane really throws a wrench in a lot of stuff.
Yeah absolutely [I'm reluctant to kill off Shane]. It's hard thinking about killing any character. If they're good characters, there are always more scenes to write, but this is the nature of things: There are zombies around. People gots to die. And after getting to know Jon Bernthal and see his portrayal of Shane, it's not an easy decision. He's past his expiration date by comic book standards, but Shane is by no means rotten. I think he's remaining fresh for a while. We'll see.
Fans will also get to meet Hershel, the man whose farm the survivors travel to in the second volume of the comic book.
Season 1 focused on Atlanta so much, and we got to see desolate Atlanta and how this stuff affects cities. And that was really cool, and a lot of cool visuals come from that. But rather than repeat ourselves we're going out into the woods. We're gonna see a lot of rural roads and open fields see how bad things are as you get away from the city centers. It's definitely different enough that Season 2 stands on its own and has its own thing. And a lot of that comes from Hershel's farm and seeing these characters. All I can say is it's gonna be great, and the casting on Season 2 is going to be as pitch-perfect as the casting on Season 1. I can't wait for everyone to meet Hershel.
And who will play Hershel? "We were looking really hard at Charlie Sheen for everyone, but he can't play multiple roles," joked Kirkman.
