The forces of the undead have moved at various speeds throughout the history of zombie cinema, from slow crawls to full-on sprints. How fast are the zombies of The Walking Dead going to be? Well, Frank Darabont has an answer to that question!

In the second of two parts of his visit to the set of The Walking Dead, Quint from Ain't It Cool News reports from his chat with director Frank Darabont that the show's zombies will harken back to George Romero's earliest flesh-eaters from the days of Night of the Living Dead. In other words, they won't be as fast as the rage-filled aggressors in 28 Days Later or Zack Snyder's updated Dawn of the Dead, but they won't be as slow as a mummy.

Quint recalls the conversation:

Frank compared his zombies to lions. After they eat they’re a little dopey, you can walk by them… but if they’re hungry you’re prey and they’re very dangerous.

Darabont said he’s put a lot of thought into it and decided to fall back to George A. Romero’s original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. He called it the “Book of Genesis” of his zombies here. People forget the first zombie we see in NOTLD is moving fairly quickly. He’s not running, but he shuffles after Barbara at a decent speed. That, Darabont feels, gives him a little liberty at having his zombies do a little more than a mummy-walk.

That said, you’re not going to see 28 Days Later stuff here. Look at the cemetery zombie from NOTLD, that’s the top speed.

For more information on The Walking Dead, including the first conversation with Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes) that I've seen online — though, admittedly, it's mostly just Quint's recollection of their chat — head on over to Ain't It Cool.