Shocking news tonight as Deadline is reporting that Frank Darabont has left The Walking Dead and will no long serve as showrunner for the series. The news comes as a shocker considering production is already underway for Season 2 and because Darabont showed up at the panel for the show last week during San Diego Comic-Con. However, Deadline says that there are talks to keep him around in some capacity. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about creative staff changes on the show and it’s unclear at this time whether or not Glen Mazzara (Darabont’s #2 on the show) will take over.

I’ll be keeping my eye on Twitter tonight, as I’m sure The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman will have something to say regarding the matter. We’ll update as news breaks.

The Walking Dead made an explosive return to San Diego Comic-Con this year, unveiling a brand new trailer, a poster, new details, and a ton of photos. After the jump, we have a recap of all the important news from the big show.

During tonight’s season premiere of Breaking Bad, AMC released the first official clip from Season 2 of The Walking Dead. Since then, AMC has released it online and we’ve got it for you below. There are no real spoilers, just Rick taking out some anger on a couple of deserving walkers. Check it out and let us know what you think!

UPDATED: Robert Kirkman just posted the following on Twitter:

This Walking Dead Season 2 teaser that is making the rounds online is very cool… but it’s NOT a real teaser. Just letting people know…

Even though the trailer isn’t real, it is a still an impressive video and worth a watch.

ORIGINAL STORY: Bleeding Cool has found the first trailer for the second season of AMC’s The Walking Dead. The trailer, while short, leaves quite an eerie impression. Comic-Con will hopefully give us some more footage as our group of rag-tag survivors head toward Hershel’s Farm. Enjoy the trailer below and let us know what you think!

Deadline reports say that Frank Darabont, executive producer of The Walking Dead, has let go of the entire writing staff of the hit series.  Also, it is said that Frank is not looking to replace the bunch, and instead the show will deal with freelancers for the next season.  Darabont himself has written two of the six episodes from season one, while co-writing and re-writing the remaining four.  Although ditching a writing team for freelancers has been done before (the article notes the Starz/BBC‘s Torchwood series), going from the manageable six episode season to thirteen in season two may not be as easy as Frank may think.  Deadline says,

“Sources tell me that no final decision has been made yet with all options open, including using some combination of a writing staff/freelances.”

Of course, I believe that it is a bold decision that most likely wasn’t made by Mr. Darabont alone.  But, I’m pretty sure the last thing the writers of the show thought after seeing the tremendous praise and ratings for The Walking Dead was that they’d be hunting for new jobs before season’s end.

Read more about the story here.

AMC has provided us with preview pictures and the official description for tonight’s fourth episode of “The Walking Dead” titled “Vatos.’ The full gallery and official description are after the jump for those that want to avoid spoilers.