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"Walking Dead" season 2 premiere planned to be Army Ranger flashback

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David

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Jan 9, 2012, 5:39:46 PM1/9/12
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http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/

Frank Darabont's epic, rejected plan for 'Walking Dead' season 2
revealed?
by James Hibberd

Frank Darabont’s unceremonious exit from AMC’s The Walking Dead left
many fans wondering what season 2 would have been like had he remained
the showrunner.

Well, Crave Online and AintItCool have apparently nailed down
Darabont’s original plan for the season 2 premiere. And, if true, it
was a fantastic idea. But so far, Darabont’s office, AMC and Walking
Dead creator Robert Kirkman all refuse to comment on these reports,
which include a letter purportedly from Darabont himself. So there may
be more news to come on this subject…

The opener allegedly flashbacks to the early days of the zombie
apocalypse. The entire episode would have tracked a squad of Army
Rangers dropping into Atlanta. They get trapped in a zombie outbreak.
“All they have to do is travel maybe a dozen blocks, a simple journey,
but what starts as a no-brainer scenario goes from ‘the city is being
secured’ to ‘holy shit, we’ve lost control, the world is ending,’”
Darabont describes in a letter to AICN. So, yeah — Black Hawk Down
with zombies.

Along the way, the soldiers encounter some familiar faces from the
show. “Picture our squad arriving at a manned barricade where some
civilians are being held back from leaving the city on shoot-to-kill
orders to stop the spread of contagion, it’s a panicked high-intensity
scene, and in this crowd of desperate people we find Andrea and Amy.
The barricade gunners panic, the civilians start to get mowed down by
machine-gun fire, and in this melee the girls get pulled to safety by
some old guy they don’t even know. It’s Dale. He’s nobody to them,
just some guy who saw the opportunity to do the right thing and
reacted in the moment.”

The end of the episode concludes with the last surviving member of the
squad, now infected and dying, hiding in a tank. A very familiar tank…
“After the soldier dies this squalid, lonely death … and after a quiet
lapse of time … we do a shot-for-shot reprise from the first episode
of the first season: Rick comes scrambling into the tank to escape the
horde … blows that zombie soldier’s brains out … now Rick’s trapped …
fade out … the end.?? The notion was to take the ‘throwaway’ tank
zombie Rick encountered in the pilot, and tell that soldier’s story.
Make him the star of his own movie, follow his journey, but don’t
reveal who he is until the end. The idea being that every zombie has a
story…”

Darabont compared the plan to the way Lost would occasionally break
format with a “wild card” episode. Then Episode 2 would pick up back
with Rick and the other survivors.

Darabont doesn’t say why the team jettisoned this episode, but there’s
a few obvious guesses: It’s expensive and not essential to the story.
But of those two, the potential cost issue is likely to get to the
most attention from fans. Squabbles over budget were one reported
reason Darabont was booted, though AMC has assured viewers wouldn’t
really notice a qualitative difference. After all, it’s not like
season 2 has taken place entirely on a freakin’ farm or anything …
right?

Over on Crave, the actor who played the tank zombie, Sam Witwer,
blamed budget worries for cutting the story.”This is all because
people wanted to save money,” Witwer said. “This is all because they
felt it necessary to cut the budget by — when you add in the tax
breaks they’re pocketing — like 35 percent. Really? Budget cut? So,
I’m not happy about it. And here’s the thing, it’s not as simple as
don’t support The Walking Dead because there are a lot of good people
on that set. People who are busting ass to entertain all of us …
People who have been threatened to not speak out over what happened.
It’s ugly … it’s really ugly what happened.”

If you’re fan, I recommend you click over to AICN to read Darabont’s
letter in full. Witwer’s interview is here (the actor describes the
Atlanta battle as a potential Web series, Darabont corrects that
description). Check back on this post and we’ll update if more clarity
become available.

Mason Barge

unread,
Jan 10, 2012, 6:26:06 PM1/10/12
to
On Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:39:46 -0500, David <diml...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/
>
>Frank Darabont's epic, rejected plan for 'Walking Dead' season 2
>revealed?
>by James Hibberd
>
>Frank Darabont’s unceremonious exit from AMC’s The Walking Dead left
>many fans wondering what season 2 would have been like had he remained
>the showrunner.
>
>Well, Crave Online and AintItCool have apparently nailed down
>Darabont’s original plan for the season 2 premiere. And, if true, it
>was a fantastic idea. But so far, Darabont’s office, AMC and Walking
>Dead creator Robert Kirkman all refuse to comment on these reports,
>which include a letter purportedly from Darabont himself. So there may
>be more news to come on this subject…
>
>The opener allegedly flashbacks to the early days of the zombie
>apocalypse. The entire episode would have tracked a squad of Army
>Rangers dropping into Atlanta. They get trapped in a zombie outbreak.
>“All they have to do is travel maybe a dozen blocks, a simple journey,
>but what starts as a no-brainer scenario goes from ‘the city is being
>secured’ to ‘holy shit, we’ve lost control, the world is ending,’”
>Darabont describes in a letter to AICN. So, yeah — Black Hawk Down
>with zombies.

That sounds about ten times better than what we actually got!

Hunter

unread,
Jan 10, 2012, 7:41:44 PM1/10/12
to
In article <j1rmg79rkhn4eo0eo...@4ax.com>, diml...@yahoo.com
says...
>
> http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/01/09/frank-darabont-walking-dead-season-2-plan/
>
> Frank Darabont's epic, rejected plan for 'Walking Dead' season 2
> revealed?
> by James Hibberd
>
> Frank Darabont?s unceremonious exit from AMC?s The Walking Dead left
> many fans wondering what season 2 would have been like had he remained
> the showrunner.
>
> Well, Crave Online and AintItCool have apparently nailed down
> Darabont?s original plan for the season 2 premiere. And, if true, it
> was a fantastic idea. But so far, Darabont?s office, AMC and Walking
> Dead creator Robert Kirkman all refuse to comment on these reports,
> which include a letter purportedly from Darabont himself. So there may
> be more news to come on this subject?
>
> The opener allegedly flashbacks to the early days of the zombie
> apocalypse. The entire episode would have tracked a squad of Army
> Rangers dropping into Atlanta. They get trapped in a zombie outbreak.
> ?All they have to do is travel maybe a dozen blocks, a simple journey,
> but what starts as a no-brainer scenario goes from ?the city is being
> secured? to ?holy shit, we?ve lost control, the world is ending,??
> Darabont describes in a letter to AICN. So, yeah ? Black Hawk Down
> with zombies.
>
> Along the way, the soldiers encounter some familiar faces from the
> show. ?Picture our squad arriving at a manned barricade where some
> civilians are being held back from leaving the city on shoot-to-kill
> orders to stop the spread of contagion, it?s a panicked high-intensity
> scene, and in this crowd of desperate people we find Andrea and Amy.
> The barricade gunners panic, the civilians start to get mowed down by
> machine-gun fire, and in this melee the girls get pulled to safety by
> some old guy they don?t even know. It?s Dale. He?s nobody to them,
> just some guy who saw the opportunity to do the right thing and
> reacted in the moment.?
>
> The end of the episode concludes with the last surviving member of the
> squad, now infected and dying, hiding in a tank. A very familiar tank?
> ?After the soldier dies this squalid, lonely death ? and after a quiet
> lapse of time ? we do a shot-for-shot reprise from the first episode
> of the first season: Rick comes scrambling into the tank to escape the
> horde ? blows that zombie soldier?s brains out ? now Rick?s trapped ?
> fade out ? the end.?? The notion was to take the ?throwaway? tank
> zombie Rick encountered in the pilot, and tell that soldier?s story.
> Make him the star of his own movie, follow his journey, but don?t
> reveal who he is until the end. The idea being that every zombie has a
> story??
>
> Darabont compared the plan to the way Lost would occasionally break
> format with a ?wild card? episode. Then Episode 2 would pick up back
> with Rick and the other survivors.
>
> Darabont doesn?t say why the team jettisoned this episode, but there?s
> a few obvious guesses: It?s expensive and not essential to the story.
> But of those two, the potential cost issue is likely to get to the
> most attention from fans. Squabbles over budget were one reported
> reason Darabont was booted, though AMC has assured viewers wouldn?t
> really notice a qualitative difference. After all, it?s not like
> season 2 has taken place entirely on a freakin? farm or anything ?
> right?
>
> Over on Crave, the actor who played the tank zombie, Sam Witwer,
> blamed budget worries for cutting the story.?This is all because
> people wanted to save money,? Witwer said. ?This is all because they
> felt it necessary to cut the budget by ? when you add in the tax
> breaks they?re pocketing ? like 35 percent. Really? Budget cut? So,
> I?m not happy about it. And here?s the thing, it?s not as simple as
> don?t support The Walking Dead because there are a lot of good people
> on that set. People who are busting ass to entertain all of us ?
> People who have been threatened to not speak out over what happened.
> It?s ugly ? it?s really ugly what happened.?
>
> If you?re fan, I recommend you click over to AICN to read Darabont?s
> letter in full. Witwer?s interview is here (the actor describes the
> Atlanta battle as a potential Web series, Darabont corrects that
> description). Check back on this post and we?ll update if more clarity
> become available.
-----
Unlike many I don't mind the farm layover-which isn't going to last much longer
if the comic book is a indicator (and it is despite the big differences between
the two)-but this would've made a great start to season 2b. We would've gotten
some backstory on the pandemic, but of course the creator of the comic is on
record not caring so much for describing how and why the Apocalypse happened.
--
----->Hunter

"No man in the wrong can stand up against
a fellow that's in the right and keeps on acomin'."

-----William J. McDonald
Captain, Texas Rangers from 1891 to 1907

cloud dreamer

unread,
Jan 10, 2012, 7:45:10 PM1/10/12
to
The nice part is that nothing keeps them from doing this in the future.

Granted, they've spilled the beans...

..

--

I told you so. You damned fools.

- H.G. Wells
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