The undead shamble forward relentlessly, and so must AMC’s The Walking Dead. The show recently resumed production, filming a set of bonus episodes to fill in the gap between seasons 10 and 11, and are taking measures to keep cast and crew alike from contracting COVID-19 (via EW).
“We wear these little tracers in our clothes that will tell us how long we spend in proximity to one another,” said Norman Reedus in an interview on SirusXM’s EW Live. The crew isn’t stopping there, though.
“There’s tons of rules now,” Reedus said. “Everybody’s masked up or has shields on. I have a big scar on my face so that this mask doesn’t work, so I wear the shield everybody else wears masks.”
Further the crew has their temperature taken when they get on set and everyone is subjected to rapid COVID-19 testing three times a week, Reedus explained.
The new measures will certainly make a difference, but they’re not without side effects. Reedus said that the show has a different vibe with the lack of physical touch. It also means that when an actor shows up to set, they announce the actor.
“And then the people part like Moses and the sea and I’m like, ‘Excuse me, coming through.’ It’s embarrassing,” Reedus said.
Even stunts are requiring some rethinking, Reedus said, citing an instance where one of the stuntment had to stiff-arm him instead of tumble around with him. The proximity required by stunts is exactly why Netflix’s wrestling drama GLOW ended up getting un-greenlit, so it makes sense that the crew would be proactive about keeping things safe.
The Walking Dead’s bonus episodes will air in early 2021; The Walking Dead’s eleventh season is expected to air sometime in the second half of 2021.
