Kentucky native behind 'Walking Dead' comics goes the distance for TV series

Cynthiana native and onetime Lexingtonian Robert Kirkman, creator of the Walking Dead comics, says he understands that AMC's TV version cannot be the same thing.

"As we get deeper and deeper into the show, I think that it's important to note that the comic-book series and the TV show exist separately," says Kirkman, who is also executive producer on the series.

"And while the comic-book series has a lot of cool stuff in it, there's also a fantastic writers' room with a lot of guys that have a lot of great ideas. So we're able to sit back and mine the best from my comic-book series, and take it and change it and transform it into the television show that you get to watch. So sometimes it will be completely different. Sometimes it will be exactly the same, and that will always be an evolving process as we go through making the show."

If you want to walk with the undead, tune in Sunday, when the drama returns for the second half of its second season.

In Sunday's episode, titled "Nebraska," Rick (Andrew Lincoln) must restore order in the aftermath of a horrific discovery. Meanwhile, Hershel (Scott Wilson) falls back into a bad habit and disappears, leaving Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Rick to track him down in town.

In October, AMC renewed The Walking Dead for a third season.

This story was originally published February 9, 2012 at 8:29 AM with the headline "Kentucky native behind 'Walking Dead' comics goes the distance for TV series ."