Shane Walsh (The Walking Dead)
Shane Walsh was created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, the writer and original artist of "The Walking Dead" comic book series. The character first appeared in the first issue of the comic book series in October 2003, but was expanded upon greatly in the television show adapted from the comics in 2010. As a result, Shane lives much longer in the chronology of the story in the show than he does in the comics. Kirkman described the comic book version of Shane's character as a short and quick "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" arc compared to that of his counterpart in the television series. Kirkman said he preferred the show's version of Shane and that the differences between the two versions of the character illustrate the ability to explore and evolve elements from the comic book in different ways on the show.
Frank Darabont
Darabont developed and executive-produced the first season of "The Walking Dead", the AMC series based on Robert Kirkman's comic book of the same name. Darabont recalled first coming across the series in a comic book store in Burbank, California in 2005. When Darabont became interested, Kirkman called it "extremely flattering" and went on to say that "he definitely cares about the original source material, and you can tell that in the way he's adapting it." Darabont first initiated a deal with NBC for "The Walking Dead", but was later declined and eventually brought it to AMC, who picked it up based on the source material and Darabont's involvement. Darabont wrote and directed the pilot and was executive producer of the first season along with Gale Anne Hurd. The series features a number of actors who have regularly worked with Darabont in the past, including Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden and Melissa McBride. The series earned positive reviews upon release and the pilot received 5.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched series premiere episode of any AMC television series.