It’s unclear exactly when former showrunner Frank Darabont‘s influence will cease to be a part of the hit AMC series The Walking Dead. Darabont “stepped down” back in July (it ultimately turned out that he was fired), which was met by a firestorm of negative criticism and rumors of extremely unhappy (and fearful) cast and crew members who were supposedly forbidden from speaking on the topic or face losing their jobs.

The first half of the second season was still pretty excellent, but at some point the Darabont effect will wear off and we as fans will be face-to-face with the answer to a looming question: will new showrunner Glen Mazzara be able to deliver the same level of quality we’ve come to expect, or will it all come crashing down in true apocalyptic fashion?

That all remains to be seen, but details about one episode Darabont had planned on doing has now surfaced, and it sounds like it could have been intense. Unfortunately for us, it also appears to be one that we will never get to see. You can read all about the episode on the other side.

The Walking Dead Chronicles: The Official Companion Book
Paperback
Written by Paul Ruditis
Abrams Books
Release date: October 1, 2011

The Walking Dead Chronicles: The Official Companion Book is, as the title would indicate, the official behind-the-scenes book for The Walking Dead. Almost every popular TV or movie (especially those based on comics or sci-fi properties) gets one of these. I’m sure you’ve seen these before. They’re usually filled with interviews, pictures, and inside information about the production of whatever property the book is talking about. This one is no different, and will be a book worth buying if you really like The Walking Dead, but won’t be of much interest to non-fans.

We reported a few weeks ago about Frank Darabont‘s stepping down from his position as showrunner on AMC’s hit horror television series The Walking Dead following his appearance with the cast and crew at the San Diego Comic-Con just a few weeks ago to promote the show’s upcoming second season (you can read that story HERE).

Ever since last December when The Walking Dead‘s completed its first successful season, which premiered last Halloween night with a viewership of 5.3 million and a season finale that drew in 6 million watchers, there have been constant reports of behind-the-scenes battles between the network and the show’s producers, including rumors of mass firing of the writing staff (which were debunked by Robert Kirkman, creator of the comic book the show is based on, HERE ) and demands for budget cuts from AMC executives. Now it seems that the official story behind the decision of Darabont, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) who developed the series for television, to suddenly leave the show is starting to show cracks in its facade.

Talk about rising to the top quickly. It’s being reported that Glen Mazzara, who was hired after season 1 of The Walking Dead as a head writer and the #2 guy to then showrunner Frank Darabont, will now be taking over as showrunner.

The news comes one day after the surprising announcement that Darabont had stepped down from the position, where he acted as an executive producer, writer, and director on the show he helped create and adapt for television from the Robert Kirkman comic book series.

Just a couple of days ago, Frank Darabont was on–hand with the rest of the cast and crew of AMC’s hit zombie series, The Walking Dead. But it would now appear that false smiles were presented as things were apparently not going as well as they seemed.

Deadline is reporting that Darabont has stepped down as showrunner on the series, and it seems as though his sometimes strict methods could be a contributing factor. If you’ll recall, back when season 1 of the show was just about to end, it looked as though Darabont had fired the entire writing staff and was planning to use freelancers for season 2. We later heard from Robert Kirkman, executive producer and creator of the comic from which the show is based, who said that there was a staff and the firings were a bit fabricated at the time.