Kirkman discusses 'Walking Dead' TV show

Robert Kirkman has promised fans that the Walking Dead comic remains his "main commitment", despite being named an executive producer on its TV adaptation.

The writer said that the planned pilot of his long-running zombie comic would be "110% faithful in tone", but admitted that some characters may not be exactly the same as portrayed in the Image Comics series.

Speaking about Frank Darabont’s involvement, Kirkman told CBR: "I don't know what his actual title is going to be, but the idea is that once he's written and directed the pilot, he doesn't really want to walk away and let someone else handle it because he likes the material so much."

If the show goes beyond a pilot, the scribe plans to write episodes, look over series storylines and be as "hands on" as possible.

However, he assured readers: "My main commitment is to the comics. I want to be the first guy in history that's gotten a movie or TV deal and continued to put out his comic series uninterrupted."

On the comic book translation, Kirkman added: "If it was a cool Walking Dead story that featured the characters and all of the cool stuff was in there, but more, different cool stuff gets added in there, I think that's the best way to do it."

The Walking Dead is expected to be broadcast by AMC once the pilot has been completed.