After the truncated first season of The Walking Dead ended late last year, the televised-zombie-loving world held a collective breath waiting to see what happens next. As much as it pains me to say, the first season was at least 1/3 garbage and that is only going off of fuzzy recollections and my previous reviews, helpfully listed here, as a guide. Since last December, there have been lots of backstage shenanigans reported.

The main one of course being when show-runner Frank Darabont was reported to have cut the entire writer’s room. The internet as a collective screamed, “Oh NOES!!! The show is D00MeD!!” Yet, things kept trucking along as the show ramped up production again. New characters were announced. A new, and quite frankly kick-ass, trailer was released at Comic-Con. Zombie Emma Bell is still not as pretty as she once was.

And now, the latest is that Darabont has left the show! “Oh NOES!!! The show is D00MeD!!” This I actually worry about since Darabont has proven himself, not only with the Walking Dead pilot, but with his many features that he is a talented man that this show was damn lucky to have on board. What is interesting is that the season is probably in the halfway point of completion at the time of his departure. I could say this is the norm in the TV biz but I would be lying my ass off as I have no idea. I don’t recall such a hasty and ill-timed resignation before though.

Regardless, take one look at the video below and you’ll see that the next season is certainly worth checking in for. Granted, it may have been culled from two episodes but those look like damn fine episodes which at least seem to want to address the issues I had with the first season. Or, maybe this will turn into the zombie equivalent of Grey’s Anatomy: a boring-as-shit show that I can’t give a damn about. Other than the ‘zombie kill of the week’ that is.