Like many large scale productions, The Walking Dead has been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Whereas in the near future small scale projects may be able to resume as normal, blockbusters like the AMC hit show will most likely take a long while to recover, and the stars are as bummed out about that prospect as their fans.
Talking to ComicBook.com, several Walking Dead actors said they’re “super f—ing ready” after their mid-spring shooting was postponed indefinitely. The show’s eleventh season, which will reportedly contain sixteen episodes, is not slated to release until late 2021. As compensation, though, AMC announced they’ll be making six additional season 10 episodes to air next spring.
“I don’t think anybody knows the ‘hows’ yet, I think it’s an ongoing conversation that’s being constantly had,” Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the actor who plays baddy-turned-goody Negan, told ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis. “But I bet you everyone you’re talking to right now is super f—ing ready to go to work.”
With “everyone,” Morgan is of course referring to co-stars Norman Reedus, Khary Payton and Ross Marquand, as well as season 10 newcomer Paola Lázaro, among others.
“We’re all dying, we’re all dying to go to work. It’s just a matter of [safety],” said Payton, whose character is rumored to play an important role in the yet-to-air finale. “I don’t know if it’s gonna be like that NBA bubble and we’re literally gonna be on bunk beds, just grabbing a cot.”
Indeed, the show’s eleventh season was not the only thing which the pandemic delayed. As of now, the tenth season’s next episode, “A Certain Doom,” is still to release and won’t be with us until October. That being said, it should be worth the wait, as everything we’ve heard about it so far promises an explosive return for the zombie drama, one which will also see Maggie re-enter the fold after having been away from the series for far too long.
Meanwhile, as audiences continue to wait patiently, The Walking Dead comic book creator Robert Kirkman is caught up in a lawsuit with AMC, the latter of which just won an important battle in their ongoing feud.