‘The Walking Dead’ Spin-Off Series Update; New Parody Film Underway

The Walking Dead television series is currently ramping up to return to AMC on February 9th to finish out the back half of Season 4, and with it fans are clamoring to find out what happens next. While we wait for the mid-season premiere, two news items have arose that which should provide for plenty of conversations.

First up, there are new updates coming out on where The Walking Dead spin-off series, which was first announced back in September, currently sits in terms of product. Second, a Walking Dead parody movie is about to start filming.

In a recent interview with Vulture, two of AMCâ€™s top executives, Charlie Collier and Joel Stillerman, spoke on the state of the networkâ€™s current and future programming. Among their discussions was the The Walking Dead spin-off, which Stillerman had this to say:

That show is not as far along. Robert [Kirkman] has some things on his plate. He continues to write every issue of the comic and hasnâ€™t finished season four of The Walking Dead, which he is very intimately involved with and will continue to be. Thatâ€™s really in the incubation stages. We kicked around a few ideas, but primarily what heâ€™s working on is, what is the idea that gives [him] as clear a mandate to make another version of this show as [he] had for the first one? What is going on [now] is a more philosophical discussion over why there should be another version of the show. Once we answer that, weâ€™ll zero in on the specific creative.

Collier adds:

What we want to do is not diminish the mothership. What we want to do is find something that everyone involved feels as passionately about as being a unique vehicle and unique enterprise as compared to the original series. We’ll take our time, and we’ll do it right.

It sounds like the big question that still must be answered is â€œwhat story is worth telling that couldnâ€™t be told in the current show?â€ And with that question comes the clear signal that, for better or worse, we arenâ€™t going to be seeing any concrete information about the show for quite some time. AMC currently has the series pegged to air in 2015.

On a lighter note, word is coming out that movie parody of The Walking Dead is already well underway. The movie, entitled Walking with the Dead, comes from director Scott Dow and writer Tim Ogletree and is currently shooting in Texas.

Hereâ€™s the current synopsis:

A month into the zombie apocalypse, a group of survivors, including four who â€œfor safety reasonsâ€ go by the names of their favOgleorite cities â€“ Green Bay, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Harlem â€“ a Sheriff fresh off a nice, relaxing, six-week coma, his small-business-owner 10 year old son, and a voiceover-prone zombie, Romeo, who has convinced the group that heâ€™s not dead, just a little slow, are forced from the safety of their mall-camp in hopes of finding a rumored safe-haven.

The film will star Jacqui Holland, Dave Sheridan, Joey Oglesby, Sophia Ali, and Ogletree.

What story point of view would you like to see in The Walking Dead spin-off? Any interest in the parody film?

[Source: Vulture | Bloody Disgusting]