The Walking Dead has officially relaunched production. The AMC drama was one of the countless TV series held up over the pandemic, with work originally supposed to begin on the next batch of episodes during the summer. Ultimately, the decision was made to restructure the remaining 30 outings of the show before it concludes, with six bonus installments arriving early next year ahead of the jumbo-sized 24-part final season debuting later in 2021.
This week, work has begun on those additional episodes. We already knew this, of course, thanks to star Norman Reedus sharing a sneaky photo on his Instagram yesterday, but today, TWD‘s social media accounts made it official with the release of a set pic to mark the announcement. “Lights, camera, WALKERS! #TWD is back in production,” read the caption. The image – seen below – features a crew member holding up a clapperboard, which reveals that filming commenced on October 12th.
With the label “The Walking Dead X,” this clapperboard also confirms that these bonus episodes are officially being counted as an extension of season 10. We recently saw what was originally intended to be the season 10 finale at last air on AMC earlier this month, but now we can count it as the end of 10B, with these additional installments forming 10C.
From what we know so far, this next batch of outings will be more anthology style in nature, with EP Angela Kang teasing that they’ll be smaller scale and more character focused. That’s not surprising, either, considering that they’ve been specifically designed to be made within COVID-19 safety precautions. Norman Reedus has described them as offering some “breathing room” for viewers after the action of the Whisperer War as well, and we can expect to learn about what led Maggie back home, where Connie’s been all this time and where Daryl and Carol go next.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC in early 2021.