Only days after it was announced that AMC had decided to reschedule the premiere of The Walking Dead spin-off World Beyond until later in the year comes the news that the main show will also not be broadcast as originally planned either. The final episode of the current season was due to be shown on 12th April but AMC and production company Skybound have now confirmed that though shooting had been completed, they were not able to finish the post-production on the finale before the series was temporarily shuttered due to the Coronavirus. This has been a big problem across the US entertainment industry, highlighting just how close to actual broadcast the tail-end of most series seasons get to when filming – often only weeks before being seen by the public.
Executive Producer Greg Nicotero said in a tweet that: “…for those interested, post-production involves VFX, music, sound-mixing and sound effects. This process usually goes up to about 3 weeks from air date. I’m finding out about this same time you guys are and it’s disappointing but the episode will not disappoint. Be safe everyone.”
The plan is now to finish the current broadcast run on the already fully completed penultimate episode (to be shown on 5th April) and to then finish production on the actual finale as soon as possible when the series returns to normal work-patterns. AMC have said that their intention is to show that finished finale as a standalone sometime later in the year – though it’s not known if the scheduling of the next (eleventh) season of The Walking Dead will also be delayed (the show had already halted pre-production on the next run and a further broadcast delay is something that seems inevitable if work does not recommence in the next couple of months). The usual pattern is to divide the season into two parts of around eight episodes each, the first starting around Hallowe’en at the end of October, with a second run recommencing around February.
The Walking Dead‘s other sister show, Fear the Walking Dead is also shutdown at the moment with AMC saying the initial plan is to recommence production on 13th April – though this remains fluid given the pandemic’s impact across the US and beyond at the moment.
AMC will also be offering the first eight episodes of the current tenth TWD season for free viewing on amc.com and the AMC app between 5th April and 1st May.
