[massphatness]

From THE LA TIMES:

A day after news reports surfaced that Frank Darabont was leaving "The Walking Dead," there was finally a little clarity Wednesday about where the zombie show was headed.

Darabont is stepping down from his multifaceted role at the AMC series — he was executive producer and an occasional director — and, at most, will be involved as a consultant. In his place, AMC will promote the show's No. 2 executive, Glen Mazzara, a veteran of "The Shield" who has been heavily involved in "Dead" since the end of 2010.

When the Darabont news broke Tuesday night, it shocked many in Hollywood, coming at a time when the series' stock couldn't be higher.

A second season of Rick Grimes and his band of scrappy humans is currently shooting in Georgia. A recently released trailer for the season garnered significant buzz, and a Comic-Con International panel Friday in San Diego — in which Darabont participated with no evidence of any problems — showed fans as eager as ever for the Oct. 16 return of the post-apocalyptic series.

An AMC spokeswoman declined to comment.