LOS ANGELES

THE production offices of “The Walking Dead” do not resemble the burned-out remnants of civilization struggling to survive an undead holocaust, but they don’t exactly feel like the headquarters of one of the most popular shows on cable television either. Tucked away in a spacious but spartan Kodak building in Hollywood, the workplace is an array of cream-colored walls, olive carpets and fiberglass ceiling tiles that Robert Kirkman, the big, bearded writer of the “Walking Dead” comic books and a producer of the AMC series, seemed mildly embarrassed to be showing off a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s not as cool as you’d think,” Mr. Kirkman said. “It’s like a bank office, but people are expecting, like, animatronic zombies.”

Taking his seat in a conference room ringed by photographs of “Walking Dead” characters living and deceased (as well as, for some reason, a photograph of Charlie Sheen digitally altered to look like a zombie) Mr. Kirkman joined a small team of colleagues, including Gale Anne Hurd, an executive producer, and Glen Mazzara, the recently appointed show runner, to put the finishing touches on Season 2 of “The Walking Dead,” which will have its premiere next Sunday.

Missing from the scene was Frank Darabont, the “Shawshank Redemption” and “Green Mile” filmmaker who developed “The Walking Dead” from the popular Image Comics series.