One of the many TV shows that have had their current seasons disrupted is The Walking Dead, whose tenth run wrapped up one episode early this April thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak affecting production. Or, in this case, post-production. Filming on the season 10 finale, titled “A Certain Doom,” had actually been completed prior to the lockdown, but the VFX needed to bring the post-apocalyptic world to life weren’t done.
With so much uncertainty around, well, everything these days, AMC has yet to schedule a new release date for the episode, only promising that it will be with us later this year. Director/producer Greg Nicotero has given us a little more insight into the situation, though. While speaking to Den of Geek, he revealed that it was doubly frustrating to stop work on the finale as the team was so close to getting it ready to air.
“We were right on the cusp of just about finishing the episode when everybody had to stop work,” Nicotero said. “And it’s not like you can do a lot of that stuff remotely. I looked at all the visual effects stuff that was coming in when we were shooting because there was a lot of VFX for the finale, and everything looked magnificent. It’s just a matter of waiting until we can basically mix all the ingredients. I don’t know when that’s going to be. But I think once people get a chance to go back to work, it’s probably a week and a half or two weeks of fine-tuning.”
So, there you have it. Once the shutdown ends and the TV industry can get up and running again, it should only take a couple of weeks for the TWD finale to be completed. That doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily air that soon, as AMC will have to work out the best place in the schedule for it, but the network will likely be pretty prompt with its release once it’s in the can.
The penultimate episode, 10×15 “The Tower,” left the survivors in dire straights, as most of them are trapped like sitting ducks now that Beta has sent a walker horde to kill them. That said, we’ve seen from the promos and sneak peeks that they come up with a risky plan to escape – covering themselves with zombie guts to blend into the crowd – and, remember, help is on the way. Lauren Cohan’s back as Maggie in the finale, so hopefully she’ll be able to lend a hand.
The delay to the season 10 closer will no doubt have a knock-on effect for the rest of The Walking Dead franchise this year, including Fear season 6, World Beyond season 1 and season 11. And we’ll be sure to bring you further news when it comes in.
