The Walking Dead optioned for series

The folks over at AMC are getting pretty into the whole zombie thing. This passion culminated with an approval of a movie adaptation of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead, which was a big deal at the time. The deal just got bigger though with AMC's recent announcement that the property will now be a six-episode series, according to Variety.

The series will still be helmed by Frank Darabont, who will also be an executive producer alongside Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Charles Eglee. Early indications are that Darabont has done a pretty decent job with the source material in his adaptation.

"He's taken the baseline road map of the underlying material and just blew it out to the next level," said Joel Stillerman, AMC's senior veep of programming, production and digital content. "There's stuff in there that will make the people who love the comics very happy and some surprises in there as well."

The series is slated for an October bow, coinciding with AMC's annual "Fearfest" two-week marathon of horror and thriller pics. Oh, and Halloween is around that time as well. It already boasts the talents of Jon Bernthal ("The Pacific") in the lead role of officer Rick Grimes. The work will be funded fully in house by AMC's own Rainbow Media and is the first show they've done so that is funded this way.

First off, tons of congratulations to Kirkman. The series is definitely a big deal to him and the fact that it's gone straight from one pilot episode to a six episode arc says a lot about his vision, Darabont's take on it and AMC's faith in the property. I love that this is moving to a series because it also means that fans of Kirkman, The Walking Dead or zombies in general will be in for a real treat. Obviously, I think the work will focus on Grimes' desire to get busy living and the case of the zombies to get busy dying.

I'm sorry. I couldn't help it.