Production Begins on The Walking Dead Season 4

AMC has announced that production officially started today on The Walking Dead Season 4. The 16-episode fourth season is once again filming in Georgia and will follow up on the events from last season's finale. As previously reported, Glen Mazzara stepped down as the showrunner of The Walking Dead and Scott M. Gimple has been promoted to showrunner and executive producer for Season 4. Greg Nicotero and Tom Luse were also promoted to executive producers this season.

For those that missed the recent Season 4 casting news, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. has joined the cast as a series regular and will be playing Bob Stookey, a character from the comic book series. Chad Coleman, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Emily Kinney have been promoted to “series regular” status. While it means that they will be featured prominently in Season 4, the “series regular” status does not mean that they cannot be killed. It has also been confirmed that David Morrissey signed on for Season 4 as a series regular. Previously, he had only committed to a single season of The Walking Dead.

We don't know too much about the Season 4 story at this time, but Gale Anne Hurd told us to expect zombies to pose a bigger threat this season: "Looking back at the [third] season, as we always do before the start of the new season, it’s important to see what this world is that we’ve created and how it’s affecting our characters. We’ve come to realize that, yes the theme of the season was “fight the dead, fear the living,” but we got to the point where the dead didn’t seem to be a group we needed to fear. Truly they are and we need to make sure we don’t lose sight of the threat that they will pose."

The first episode of The Walking Dead Season 4 is expected to air in October, but a specific date has not yet been set. The new season should be filming for most of the year and we'll be sure to provide readers with new information as it comes in. As long as they are sticking to their promotional plans from previous seasons, we should have a trailer, photos, and a full set of cast/crew interviews at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in July. Catch up on our recent coverage by visiting the following links:

• Robert Kirkman talks Season 4 | Gale Anne Hurd Season 4 Interview
• Exclusive Interviews: Andrew Lincoln | Laurie Holden
• Season 4 Announcement | Set Visit Report
• Interview: Lew Temple (Axel)
• Interviews: Vincent M. Ward | Chad L. Coleman (Tyreese)