Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  "What Lies Ahead" is an extended premiere, the result of a decision to combine what were originally designed to be the first two episodes of the season. This led to much of the original first episode, titled "Miles Behind Us," to be discarded, and is also the reason that the premiere contains dual credits for both writer and director. "Miles Behind Us," which was written by then-showrunner Frank Darabont and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton (an alumnus from the first season), began immediately where the Season 1 finale left off, with the group departing the destroyed CDC. Soon after, Shane finds himself left behind when 
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2011. Production commenced in June 2011. Unlike the first season, most of the principal photography for "What Lies Ahead" took place outside the city limits of Atlanta, Georgia; filming took place in Smyrna and Henry County, Georgia. Before its first airing, several segments were announced and broadcast, including a six-part internet series and a live after-show hosted by Chris Hardwick. "What Lies Ahead" was well received by television critics, who said it made a strong start to the season. Ratings were similarly positive: in the United States, it broke the record for the most-watched drama in the history of basic cable, attaining 7.3 million viewers. Worldwide, it averaged a 2.0 rating in most television markets.
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  "What Lies Ahead" is the second season premiere episode of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on October 16, 2011. It was written by series developer Frank Darabont (under the pseudonym "Ardeth Bey") and series creator Robert Kirkman, and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton and Ernest Dickerson. In this episode, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) leads his group toward Fort Benning, Georgia, but during an encounter with a herd of zombies, colloquially referred to as "walkers", Sophia Peletier (Madison Lintz) goes missing, and a search group is formed. "What Lies Ahead" was the last episode written by Darabont, who had been fired from the show in July 2011. It was first previewed at 
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  "What Lies Ahead" was first broadcast in the United States on October 16, 2011, on AMC. It received 7.3 million viewers and attained a 4.8HH rating, breaking the record for the most-watched drama in the history of cable television. It received the second highest viewership of the week ending October 16, scoring higher than Jersey Shore but less than a 2011 NFL season game between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. "What Lies Ahead" achieved similar feats, attaining a 3.8 rating—translating to 4.8 million viewers—in the 18-49 demographic, according to Nielsen ratings. In the 25–54 demographic, it garnered 4.2 million viewers. Total viewership after two encore presentations was 
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  the final cut, with the balance of the premiere consisting of the "second" episode that was written by Robert Kirkman and directed by Ernest Dickerson. Many of the deleted scenes from "Miles Behind Us" appear as bonus material on the Season 2 DVD, though it does not include the events leading up to Shane's rescue nor the original rooftop walkie-talkie monologue. Footage can also be seen in the Comic-Con trailer. The original title was seen on early marketing material for the season before the decision was made to "cannibalize" the original premiere into what would become "What Lies Ahead." Following in the tradition 
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:   "What Lies Ahead" was met with general acclaim from television critics. Gina McIntyre of the Los Angeles Times felt it was the series' best installment, calling it "thrilling" and "heart-wrenching". Similar sentiments were echoed by Josh Jackson of Paste, who gave the episode an 8.8 out of 10—a "commendable" rating. Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly liked what he called the "casual" atmosphere of the opening scene and described the ending as "daring". IGN's Eric Goldman felt the episode got the second season off to a strong start; he gave the episode 8 out of 10—a "great" rating. Hank Stuever of The Washington Post found the pace of this episode "sleeker" than that 
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:   "What Lies Ahead" was heavily promoted in the months before its premiere. A four-minute trailer was released at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2011,  and a one-minute preview was broadcast on July 27, 2011, during the season-4 premiere of Breaking Bad, in which Grimes kills two zombies with a rock. A six-part internet series was broadcast on AMC on October 3, 2011. It showed the events before the zombie outbreak from the perspective of a woman named Hannah, who appeared in the first episode. On the same day, a screening of "What Lies Ahead" commenced at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. After the premiere of the episode, a live after-show titled Talking Dead was 
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  the horror sequences in the episode, but called the character development "tepid". "At the very least", he wrote, "the show does a fine job working within its restrictions. There are a handful of absolutely top-notch set pieces in ['What Lies Ahead'], starting with an attack on the highway that seems to go on forever." Alex Hanno of The Tufts Daily felt that, although entertaining, the plot lacked "a much needed rush of energy". He gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars. Likewise, Nick Venable of Cinema Blend wrote: "I won't say I got bored, but much of the episode left me unmoved, and far less tense than I should have been."
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  the pilot episode, "Days Gone Bye". Darabont says that the episode shows a soldier dying, hidden in a tank, after which there is a "shot-for-shot reprise from the first episode of the first season". The idea was to tell the soldier's story, because "every zombie has a story". Samuel Witwer, who was cast as the soldier in the pilot for this backstory that would eventually unfold, was frustrated by the story's rejection and questioned the need for such a budget cut. Ultimately, the premiere written and filmed would begin after the events of Season 1, although a brief flashback scene of Shane and Lori witnessing the fall of Atlanta from a distance would appear during the season.
Title: What Lies Ahead
Content:  by the pilot, "Miles Behind Us" was taken from the title of the first issue of the second volume of the graphic novel. In the Season 2 DVD commentary, Robert Kirkman and Glen Mazzara described the decision to retool the premiere in such a dramatic way as an amicable decision agreed upon between both the producers and AMC to make the premiere more of an "event" as well as to push the story forward. However, reports at the time had suggested that the situation was the result of strife between Frank Darabont and AMC, who deemed footage from the first episode "unusable," with 

Question: Who was the screenwriter for What Lies Ahead?
Answer: Frank Darabont.
Robert Kirkman.