Continuing my coverage of The Walking Dead Season 6 press room during Comic-Con, I have my interview session with Greg Nicotero, Melissa McBride, and Andrew Lincoln. Find out what new tricks Greg Nicotero and his team have up their sleeves for the new walkers, learn why Carol will still be making cookies in Alexandria, and read Andrew Lincoln tease this season being about "them and us."
I always love hearing about the evolution of the zombie effects from season to season. This year, they seem more decomposed than ever. Can you talk about what enhancements you've made this season?
Greg Nicotero: Scott has one very specific thing that he is conscious of, which is, it can't be a Ray Harryhausen. It can't be a walking skeleton; there always has to be muscle. There always has to be something that is motivating the movements, but we are doing more with the rib cage, and just having exposed bone. You can see a couple in the Comic-Con trailer.
We're doing a few things this year we haven't done before, which is digital augmentation on a couple walkers. We're removing noses and putting a cavity there, and taking the area underneath the rib cage and shrinking it down.
We've refined the teeth even more, and we just keep changing it up, and every season it's different, and we're just sort of pushing it a little bit more. It's been really fun. We sculpted full muscle arms that then we add sagging flesh off of them as if everything's just starting to drip off. It's always fun, and it's always exciting to do stuff like that.
Gale Anne Hurd said that the season premiere had more zombies than we've ever seen in a single episode. What was your biggest challenge in pulling that off?
Greg Nicotero: In the pilot, we had 2 days where we had 150 or 200 walkers near the tank, but this season we had 300 walkers in one day, which is most we had ever done. The shots in the trailer, the shots of the swarm of the walkers on the road, that was one of the shots. It's just about taking the threat of the walkers and putting it forefront. It's always like, "Well it's not really a show about zombies." When Scott pitched the season, he went, "This season, that zombie threat is going to escalate and elevate."
There's a lot of tension in Season 6, based on what we've seen in the trailer. What's Carol's role in all of this?
Melissa McBride: Making cookies. [Laughs] She's multitasking. She's got to carry that cover a little bit, you know? She's still trying to find out where the vulnerabilities are. I think she's kind of the eyeballs for Rick.
It's beautiful and complicated, but so simple. This is a tool. One of her weapons is the adaptability.
Alexandria goes through some horrible moments at the end of Season 5. After the events of the prison and being on the road last season, does he need to be in control?
Andrew Lincoln: I think the Alexandrians are probably quite concerned about Rick. I don't know necessarily if he wants control. I don't think that's necessarily his modus operandi, but he's in a place now where he's not willing to compromise. He does something where his leadership is questioned severely this first half of the season.
If we had walked into the community, were taken in, and they had their shit together, he would just say, "Look, I will be the chief of police. I'll be the general." He'd be more than happy with that. I think that very much a theme within this season is them and us. Rick is still probably, I don't want to speak for Carol, but there are certain people that are positioning themselves as us, and they will always remain there, you know what I mean? That's going to cause conflict within the community and maybe within the survivors.
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Tomorrow, we continue our coverage from Comic-Con with interviews with the cast and creators of Fear The Walking Dead. Until then, here's the Season 6 trailer and release details for those that missed it this weekend:
"AMC announced today from Comic-Con International that “The Walking Dead” season six will premiere Sunday, October 11th at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT with an extended 90-minute episode. As in previous seasons, the show’s sixth season of 16 episodes will air in two parts, with the first eight episodes kicking off October 11th and the final eight returning February 2016....
...Internationally, “The Walking Dead” will return to audiences in 125+ FOX International Channels (FIC) markets within 24 hours of the U.S. premiere, as part of FIC’s continued commitment to broadcast the series near day-and-date globally."
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