Former ‘Walking Dead’ showrunner Frank Darabont’s TNT series changes title

It’s “L.A. Noir” no more … and instead, it’s the equally-cool “Lost Angels.”

When we first heard the announced name of Frank Darabont’s first season following his sudden dismissal from “The Walking Dead” midway through season 2, there was immediately one response that came into our mind: wait, isn’t that a video game? Apparently, the makers of the game in Rockstar (the folks behind the “Grand Theft Auto” series) tended to agree with us, and thanks to this the series is now going to be entering the entertainment universe with a new name attached to it.

For more, let’s turn to what Darabont had to say in a new interview with io9, in which he also discusses who much he is enjoying getting to work with one of his “Walking Dead” actors in Jon Bernthal:

“It was going to be called L.A. Noir, based on the book by John Buntin. But the video game company with the video game called L.A. Noire threatened to sue the s**t out of me, TNT, every company that actually ever worked in Hollywood. And they have the billions of dollars to back it up, apparently. So we’re changing the title, and I do believe the title is going to be Lost Angels. This is being announced right here. It’s a very, very cool show. It’s [set in] 1947 LA and it stars my very dear friend Jon Bernthal, whom I worked with on The Walking Dead…”

There is no word just yet on when “Lost Angels” is going to premiere, but TNT has a habit of traditionally launching their original series during the summer. This is one that has the potential to be something special in that it deviates from most of their present-day cop procedurals, and could give them an opportunity to earn some critical acclaim that they really have not had for any show as of late other than “The Closer.”

Do you like the new title? If you want to read some more on “The Walking Dead” season 3, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: TNT