Imagine the zombie movie that never ends. That’s the premise for AMC’s newest original series, ‘The Walking Dead.’
Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is a small-town cop who takes a bullet in the chest in the line of duty, only to wake up after a brief coma in a different world. That world is infested with zombies, which the public refer to as ‘walkers.’
The trailer shows Grimes quickly making his way to Atlanta in search of his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), his son Carl (Chandler Riggs) and anyone else that might still be alive.
The real story begins once he reaches the supposed military haven of Atlanta. When Grimes arrives, he isn’t greeted by his wife and son, but a welcoming committee of 1,000 undead cannibals. As for how Grimes gets out of that one, you’ll have to tune in to find out.
What’s really exciting about ‘The Walking Dead’ is the story’s focus. Grimes isn’t the president or a scientist or anyone remotely special ‘ he won’t save the world. The story is about regular people finding a way to survive in a world overrun by the dead. The title, ‘The Walking Dead,’ doesn’t describe the world’s zombies; instead, it describes its people. In this series, death is more of an inevitability than ever, and what’s interesting is how the show will explore how that will affect the characters.
Zombies may seem like an odd choice when looking over the rest of AMC’s programming, with shows like ‘Madmen’ and ‘Breaking Bad,’ but it is keeping up with the network’s motto, ‘Story Matters Here.’
‘The Walking Dead’ is originally an independent comic book series owned and created by writer Robert Kirkman and distributed by Image Comics, where it is currently at issue 77.
The man responsible for bringing the show to the small screen is writer, director and three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont (‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ ‘The Green Mile’). Darabont is no stranger to working with adaptations, as many of his movies are adaptations of Stephen King novels.
Special effects artist Greg Nicotero (‘Day of the Dead,’ ‘Sin City’) has been doing zombie make-up since 1985 and producer Gale Ann Hurd (‘Terminator,’ ‘Aliens,’ ‘Armageddon’) said, ‘What those films [her big movie hits] are to the big screen, this series is to the small screen.’
If you’re ready to curb that zombie obsession, ‘The Walking Dead’ premieres at 10 p.m. on Halloween on AMC.