Either out of blithe ignorance or as a calculated act of passive-aggression from Frank Darabont, Variety seems to have spoiled the upcoming season of AMC’s The Walking Dead with an otherwise-innocuous casting report. And here we again we pause to point out the word “spoiled” in both the headline and first sentence, as well as to issue a by-now-redundant [SPOILER ALERT], as we have already properly alerted you to things that could be spoiled. That out of the way, we will now continue with this news report, secure in the knowledge that the only people left reading it will have no cause to complain, aside from the usual indignities of human existence.
Right, then: Variety reports that Darabont has begun wooing John Bernthal to come and play the lead in L.A. Noir, his previously announced period drama for TNT. But of course, Bernthal is already pretty busy playing Shane, the increasingly unhinged, consistently pissy second male lead on The Walking Dead—and while it’s possible that Bernthal could find the time to star in both, and even divide his time between filming in Atlanta and Los Angeles, it’s much more likely that Variety just sort of revealed that Shane’s going to die. Add in last year’s TV Line article about an unnamed member of the Walking ensemble looking to break their contract out of loyalty to Darabont—and more importantly, Shane’s death in Robert Kirkman’s comic books—and his imminent demise begins to look even more certain. And so it sorta-kinda looks like Darabont may have let the spoiler cat out of the sublimated-resentment bag. Enjoy the rest of the second season of The Walking Dead, starting February 12!