According to the Hollywood Reporter AMC’s breakout hit The Walking Dead ended its 6-episode first-season run with another series high. More than 6 million viewers tuned in last night for the closer, eclipsing the previous series high of 5.6 million posted the previous Sunday.
The good news comes after last week’s report that series creator Frank Darabont had fired the writing staff and planned to use freelancers to craft the second season. The story quickly found its way around the net on almost every major film blog until producer Gale Anne Hurd told EW that the demise of the writing staff was very much exaggerated.
Speaking to EW, Gale Anne Hurd says, “[In] the writers’ room, there are people that have set up other projects that will be their first priority if their own series is picked up as a pilot or if it’s a series. I think [Charles Eglee, reportedly fired] just decided that he wants to run his own show”.
–
[ad#footer-ad-1]
–
Comic series creator, producer and co-writer Robert Kirkman had previously told EW,
“There’s been a little bit of behind the scenes stuff going on between the producers on the show and AMC, just figuring out when we’re going to get started and how we are going to do things and what our overall plan for season two is. That kind of stuff has been going on. But I don’t think any actual heavy work will be happening until after Christmas”.
He also told TV Guide the initial announcement of firings was “ not accurate and unfortunate that it’s being reported that our writing staff has been fired because that’s not the case… It makes Frank look bad. I don’t think Frank wants it out there that he’s just firing people off of a successful show seemingly for no reason”.
It seems that Kirkman has been alluding to some level of conflict between Charles Eglee and Frank Darabont. From what we gather Eglee came onto the show expecting to become showrunner after the first season until Frank Darabont decided to stay on. Eglee clearly sees Darabont would take control and it seems he feels he would be better off moving on to a project he could control.
Gale Anne Hurd continued to say,
“It’s a little premature to be nailing down. I don’t know if it’s going to be a freelance situation or if we’re going to have writers in a writers’ room. That’s something that’s being worked on now.
So there’s a bit of conflict between official reports. All AMC has confirmed is that some writing staff changes will occur, but that could only be with respect to Charles Eglee. More as it comes out”.
With a series average of 3.5 million adults 18-49, The Walking Dead also has become the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the demo. The series, based on Robert Kirkman’s comics, has already been renewed for a second season.
