Just days after he touted The Walking Dead's second season at Comic-Con, rumors are flying that showrunner Frank Darabont is stepping down as the head zombie-wrangler on AMC's hit undead series. What. The. Fuck.


The Hollywood Reporter has just released this loaded bit of news:

Sources confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Darabont, the creator, executive producer and director of the zombie hit based on the comics by Robert Kirkman, is stepping down as showrunner. Whether the former feature film director will stay on with the series remains unclear.


While we're still not sure what "stepping down" really entails, we're horrified. HORRIFIED. That said, none of this has been confirmed yet.

Not long ago, Darabont complained about season two budget cuts (even though he insisted at the same time that none of the alleged cuts would impact him creatively). Still, we have to wonder (or hope) that this report is just a ploy by Darabont to get the funds he needs to deliver the full-blown horror we want. And if it's a ploy, let's hope it works.

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This man made Shawshank people, Shawshank. Plus he wrote, directed and produced Walking Dead season one, his finger prints are all over it. We don't want to lose the mastermind behind the one great cinematic horror series on television!

Still, we find it a little odd that he would still attend Comic-Con with this sort of news looming over his head. But, it's a hell of a show, and that's thanks to Frank. We hope whatever happens he still remains a large part of the series.


UPDATE: Looks like EW is confirming the reports stating that his leave is attributed to "Darabont never quite having gotten the hang of switching from films to a TV show."