‘The Walking Dead’s’ Robert Kirkman Is Developing An Exorcism TV Series That Will Never Work

Robert Kirkman, the writer behind the graphic novels upon which The Walking Dead is based, is working on a new comic-book series, which he is also developing into a television series. Via Deadline:

Told through the Kirkman prism, the series follows a young man, Kyle Barnes, who has been plagued by possession since he was a child. Now an adult, he embarks on a spiritual journey to find answers but what he uncovers could mean the end of life on Earth as we know it.

I want to have faith in such a series, but as I’ve written in the past — most recently, in my Dark Skies review — existential supernatural series DO NOT WORK. “A spiritual journey to find answers” is precisely why: There are no good answers, at least none that a screenwriter or novelist can provide in a satisfying way.

It’s the Lindelof Problem™: You can pose the questions, but as soon as you try to provide answers, you’re going to let your audience down because limbo is not a good answer, Biblical answers will not satisfy anyone, and supernatural answers are not rooted in logic. Not even Stephen Hawking or Alvin Plantinga can pull that feat off. The one catch in this series, however, is if Kirkman bows out, avoids the hard answers, and allows “life on Earth [to] end as we know it.” But then, half his audience is going to be pissed off because he crapped out on the ending.

It’s a lose-lose situation, but here’s hoping that Kirkman will be the first to provide solid, believable answers to the hard spiritual questions that don’t sound like platitudes out of a self-help book or, worse, take the Fifth Element LOVE cop-out route.