Previously under contractual obligations to remain quiet, AMC’s The Walking Dead former executive producer Frank Darabont recently spoke for the first time about his departure from the show.
“It was, for the sake of my cast and my crew, a tremendously regretful thing to face, to have to leave,” he said to TV Guide in an interview about his new show, L.A. Noir. “But I was really given no choice. I don’t understand the thinking behind, “Oh, this is the most successful show in the history of basic cable. Let’s gut the budgets now.” I never did understand that and I think they got tired of hearing me complain about it. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s as far as I want to go with it because otherwise it’s just provoking more controversy and that’s not really of interest to me. I just want to keep my head down and do my job and be allowed to do my job, that’s key, and continue to, hopefully, enjoy it and do good work.”
Darabont’s final seven episodes aired earlier this season, culminating with what was an incredible, if not heartbreaking, cliffhanger episode (“Pretty Much Dead Already”) on November 27th. Since then the show has been on hiatus, returning with all new episodes beginning on February 12th.
“These people are like family to me,” he continued, “It has not been easy for anybody. Let me put it that way: It was like a death in the family. Only I was the dead guy. I felt like William Holden, face down in the swimming pool, narrating this thing.”
How will the show change in the wake of budget cuts, and without Frank Darabont at the helm? We can only wait and see.
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