A lot of eyebrows raised this week at Deadline's report that the entire writing staff of The Walking Dead had been fired from the series by executive producer Frank Darabont , as the show heads towards its second season. However, in a new interview with EW , executive producer Gale Anne Hurd says those allegations are "completely inaccurate."

Hurd says that since writing on the first, six-episode season wrapped months ago (with no guarantee of a renewal at the time), the staff have simply moved on to other projects. Says Hurd, "[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."The Deadline story specifically named Charles H. Eglee as someone let go, but Hurd says, "I think [Eglee] just decided that he wants to run his own show."Re-assembling most of the key participants from Season 1 may be difficult. Discussing makeup effects creator Greg Nicotero , who created the zombie makeup for the first season, Hurd says, "We certainly hope he'll be back. As with everything, it's subject to availability." Hurd did confirm the principal cast members are all signed for multiple seasons and reiterated reports that Season 2 will likely debut next October. She also says Darabont and Walking Dead comic book creator Robert Kirkman will likely meet early next year to begin mapping out Season 2.