SDCC '11: The Walking Dead Panel Highlights; Four Minute Trailer Released!

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we have both some highlights from the panel which has just wrapped up in San Diego, as well as the first teaser trailer (which weighs in at an impressive four minutes long) for the highly anticipated second season of the show.

Season two opens with the group fleeing the CDC — no time jump.

Creator Robert Kirkman: "There’s an expectation now. First season nobody knew what was coming. I can say it’s made everybody work harder. It’s empowered us to try harder. We’re taking that seriously and really trying to deliver."

Showrunner Frank Darabont: "We also have writers that are really fans of it. The first six episodes nobody knew what the hell they were dealing with except me."

"The Walking Dead fans are the most badass in the world. You’re the smartest, you’re the best and we want to feed you," says Jon Bernthal.

Robert Kirkman on what he would do in the zombie apocalypse: "I would kill myself. I don’t have any urge to do that but I’ve been writing about this for so long … I’d jump off a bridge. People come up to me and say, ‘I’d hole up in a school’ … no you wouldn’t. You’d be somebody’s pet, because the whole world would turn into prison."

"The coursework is going back and reading Robert's comics." -Darabont

The tagline for Season 2: "The end of civilization... Was just the beginning."

Makeup genius/wizard Rick Baker is a fan: "I got a great phone call from Rick Baker saying how much he loved the zombies on the show." -Greg Nicotero

"You just turn up. Learn your lines. And get out of the way... Because the words are so cool to say." - Andrew Lincoln

Kirkman: "Putting these characters through their paces is a big part of what we're aiming to do with this show."