AMC announced today a live, 90-minute special edition ofTalking Dead, featuring 12 cast members - everyone in the final gut-wrenching scene from the Season 6 finale - and executive producersScott M. GimpleandRobert Kirkman, on Sunday, October 23. In addition toGimpleandKirkman,Talking Deadwill feature guestsAndrew Lincoln,Norman Reedus,Steven Yeun,Lauren Cohan,Danai Gurira,Michael Cudlitz,Sonequa Martin-Green,Chandler Riggs,Josh McDermitt,Christian Serratos,Ross MarquandandJeffery Dean Morgan. Here’s whatCharlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios, had to say in his statement.
Based on the comic book series written byRobert Kirkmanand published by Image Comics,The Walking Deadreigns as television’s most watched drama for adults 18-49 for the last four years.The Walking Deadtells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse, and follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home. The series, which has been heralded by critics as “an honest-to-God phenomenon” (Variety), is executive produced byGimple,Kirkman,Gale Anne Hurd,David Alpert,Greg NicoteroandTom Luse.
AMC’s first live after show,Talking Dead, launched in October 2011 as a way to immediately discuss and recap new episodes ofThe Walking Dead. Over the second half of the last season,Talking Deadaveraged 6.4 million viewers, including 3.8 million adults 18-49 and 4.1 million adults 25-54 in Nielsen Live +3 ratings. The series is executive produced byMichael Davies,Jen PattonandBrandon Monk.
Over 2,000Deadfans will have the opportunity to win free tickets to a screening ofThe Walking DeadSeason 7 premiere episode at 6:00 p.m. PT (live with the East Coast airing) andTalking Deadtaping, hosted byChris Hardwick, at Los Angeles' iconic Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The “Talking Dead at Hollywood Forever” ticket sweepstakes opens on Tuesday, October 4 at 7:00 a.m. ET atTalkingDeadSweeps.com. In related news, executive producerGreg Nicoteroappeared on the season finale of AMC’sGeeking Out, where he dropped an interesting tidbit aboutThe Walking DeadSeason 7 premiere. Here’s what he had to say below, teasing that there is so much more that happens beside learning about whoNegankills.
“There’s so much more that happens in that episode that is more heartbreaking than that moment, that by the time the episode’s over it’s almost too much. It’s that intense. It just keeps getting worse. It goes lower and lower and lower and lower.”
There will also be a number of new characters introduced inThe Walking Dead Season 7. The first trailer that debuted at Comic-Con offered our first look at The Kingdom, and its leader King Ezekiel (Khary Payton), along with his pet tiger Ezekiel. There will also be a “grandmother type” named Naomi, who will do whatever it takes so she doesn’t lose anyone else close to her again, and Jennie, said to be a “sunny-side up teenager,” but we don’t know if these characters are part of The Kingdom or not.
