AMC & Robert Kirkman Developing 'Thief of Thieves'

[Shifty]

'Walking Dead' Creator Robert Kirkman Developing New Show for AMC

The cable network is developing the comic book creator/executive producer's newest title, "Thief of Thieves," with "Walking Dead" producer David Alpert and former EP Chic Eglee attached.

THR.com 10:00 AM PDT 4/11/2012 by Lesley Goldberg

The cable network is reteaming with The Walking Dead creator/executive producer to develop his newest comic, Thief of Thieves, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

The Image Comics/Skybound title revolves around a master thief with a dual identity who, while struggling to quit the business, opts to steal only what has already been stolen.

Kirkman and Walking Dead producer David Alpert of Circle of Confusion will reunite with Chic Eglee -- with whom they worked on the freshman season of the hit zombie drama -- on the project. Eglee, whose credits include the Showtime double-life drama Dexter, will serve as showrunner should Thief of Thieves move to series.

"Much like The Walking Dead brought horror to television in a unique and groundbreaking way, I feel Thief of Thieves can do the same thing for heist stories, showing the humanity of all the characters, including the criminals," Kirkman says.

Released in February, the first two issues Thief of Thieves each sold out on their respective release dates; issue No. 3 is in stores Wednesday.

Kirkman, who created Image/Skybound's Walking Dead in 2003 and continues to pen each monthly issue, developed the collaborative title Thief of Thieves based on his experience in the writers' room of the zombie drama. Nick Spencer penned the first arc of Thief of Thieves, with Kirkman on board as head writer to oversee the series.

"AMC recognizes the limitless ideas generated by the comic industry," Kirkman says. "Their dedication to bringing The Walking Dead to life as a TV show has been key to its success and I'm excited about the potential of Thief of Thieves to reach similar levels of success."

Walking Dead has proven to be a valuable property for the network, with its second season finale in March shattering cable ratings marks with 9 million total viewers and records in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49, 25-54 and 18-34 demographics. The March figures marked the third time the AMC series broke the demo records, besting its own record highs for the second time.

"Working with AMC has been a tremendously positive experience and I'm looking forward to continuing and strengthening our relationships there and I can't neglect to mention I've been dying to work with Chic again since we wrapped on The Walking Dead Season 1," Kirkman says.

In addition to Thief of Thieves, Eglee (The Shield) is also developing another comic property, Brian Michael Bendis' Image-turned-Marvel/Icon title Powers, which is in the works at FX.

"It's incredibly exciting to put the band back together with Robert, Chic and AMC; it just feels great," Alpert says.

Eglee left The Walking Dead since Frank stayed on as showrunner and he didn't want to be the number two guy. So he went to FX to be the showrunner on Powers but they didn't like how the pilot turned out and are debating reshoots. Now it looks like Powers is dead if Eglee is working on this.

 

[Destructus86]

Sounds great. I like the concept.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Very cool concept, hopefully this gets the go ahead.

 

[Sawyer]

Eh. I'll be sad if this does indeed signify that Powers is dead.

 

[Rowsdower!]

This seems really cool but the title sounds silly to me. I keep thinking like it should have "Robin Hood" preceding it.

 

[Asgard]

Sounds good. I hope its comedic in nature like White Collar. AMC already has drama and horror covered.

 

[Sawyer]

I need one of the cable networks to adapt some Vertigo.

*cough*Y the Last Man*cough*Preacher*cough*Sandman*cough**cough**actually starts coughing*

Ouch.