'The Walking Dead' to Open Second Season With 90-Minute Premiere

The AMC drama's 13-episode run will be broken up into two parts, with the second half premiering next February.

10:40 AM PDT 9/1/2011 by Philiana Ng

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AMC

"The Walking Dead"

AMC is taking a page out of last year's book, offering viewers an expanded premiere episode of The Walking Dead when it returns this October.

The zombie drama will once again open its season with a 90-minute episode on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 9 p.m., kicking off the two-weeklong Fearfest. The supersized premiere will be aired internationally following the U.S. premiere.

Following the premiere, six more episodes will air in the following weeks. But unlike the first season, which only featured six episodes, AMC will break out the second half of the season to air next year. The final six episodes of the season will begin airing Sunday, Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. New unscripted series Secret Stash, executive produced by Kevin Smith, Charlie Corwin and Elyse Seiden will air in conjunction with The Walking Dead in 2012.

AMC is mulling a talk show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, revolving around its scripted slate.

The Walking Dead, based on the comics by Robert Kirkman, has been in the spotlight as of late, with showrunner Frank Darabont exiting the series and Glen Mazzara stepping into the position. Darabont gave no indication at Comic-Con this year that he was stepping down, noting at the time that there would be three major characters added to the drama.