NYCC: THE WALKING DEAD Panel

AMC's The Walking Dead panel at New York Comic Con was the biggest event in the festival's history, with over 500 people being turned away at the door. Plus: brand new footage was screened for the rabid fans in attendance.

The highlight of the panel was the six-minute 30-second clip from episode two.

Warning: Minor Spoilers Ahead:The clip is from the opening of season one's second episode and begins with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) stuck inside a tank that is swarmed with zombies. A voice comes over the radio and tells Rick to vacate the tank and run as fast as he can. After some back and forth, Rick makes a break for it and dispatches a zombie in gruesome fashion upon his exit. From this point on Rick runs down the street emptying his clip on the undead until he runs into Glenn (Steven Yeun). (this drew a massive applause from the crowd). Rick and Glenn then climb a fire escape and make their way to a building before two men in riot gear clear a path of zombies in front of them, allowing them to enter. The survivors in riot gear curse Rick out for attracting the horde of zombies as the camera pans to the doors and we see hundreds of zombies trying to break in. End of clip and spoilers.

After the clip, the first three panelists come out - comic series creator Robert Kirkman, director/producer Frank Darabont and producer Gale Anne Hurd. Kirkman went on to say he wrote episode four of the first season and that his favorite zombie film of all time is the underrated Romero epic, Day of The Dead. He also spoke in reference to the never-before-scene clip that preceded his entrance.

"I almost teared up the first time I saw the Glenn character for the first time," said Kirkman.

Producer Frank Darabont re-affirmed that the TV show will not follow the comic exactly and will induce surprises from fans of the long-running comic series.

"It will go off the path a bit to allow for surprises to even the most dedicated fans. Going off the path isn't that serious as long as you know the path, you can get back on the path," said Darabont.

Darabont also went on to say that the series will push the boundaries of what can be seen on TV to the limit on the AMC network.

"I think the people will be shocked with how far we will go, as you can see in the clip. If we were doing this as an R-rated feature, I don't think we will do anything different. I mean look at Breaking Bad, we will make them look like p*****s!" he said.

Up next another exclusive clip showed Shane teaching Rick's son Carl how to tie a knot at another survivor camp. After the short clip, more panelists join the stage including, Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun, Jon Bernthal (Shane), and Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon). Bernthal was actually boo'ed when he entered the panel.

"God bless you New York! They didn't do that in San Diego. That's how it's supposed to be done!" said Bernthal.

The cast members went on to individually say they weren't familiar with the series and only read enough to get familiar with their characters at first, so the script would then transport them into the world of The Walking Dead.

"What is so wonderful about The Walking Dead is that the characters are so rich and complicated. I see it as a great piece of literature," said Lincoln.

The Walking Dead chronicles the travels of Rick Grimes, a small-town police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky, his family, and a number of other survivors who have banded together in order to survive after the world is overrun with zombies. The six episode first season of The Walking Dead begins on October 31st, 2010, on AMC.