The Walking Dead's Six New Season 10 Episodes Are Designed for Safe Shooting Amid Pandemic

The Walking Dead is coming back to life with six new episodes designed to be filmed safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This anthology-style six-episode run extends the current tenth season into early 2021, taking "deep dives" into the zombie drama's characters in the aftermath of the Whisperer War that will conclude with the October 4 airing of "A Certain Doom." The extended Season 10, which leads into the expanded final season due out in late 2021, marks the first time cast and crew of The Walking Dead will report back to set since production came to a halt in March.

"The episodes are all designed to be filmed safely during this pandemic that we're in," executive producer and showrunner Angela Kang said during the Walking Dead Universe Preview Special. "There's sort of an anthological feel to some of them. They're really deep dives into our characters, which I hope people enjoy."

At least one installment will answer questions raised by the appearance of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) in The Walking Dead Season 10 finale, where Maggie returns alongside a mysterious new companion.

"We've been enjoying working on something that's a little bit different from what we were doing in the main part of Season 10," Kang said. "We just get to feature different people and tell these little stories that all kind of add up to a picture of what our survivors are going through, and that will lead us into Season 11 eventually."

In a recent interview with Decider, chief content officer and executive producer Scott Gimple said Kang and the Walking Dead writers' room put together six episodes that are "extremely friendly to the challenges" of shooting during a pandemic.

"We were just very smart about the creative. What's amazing was the constraints that were embraced have resulted in some of the most amazing scripts the show has produced," Gimple said. "I can't wait to see them in these episodes. And it just so happens — well, it doesn't just so happen, because they were planned for this — but they're incredibly safe to produce. Or at least, incredibly cognizant of the challenges we'll face in producing them."

AMC has not yet announced a premiere date for these six new episodes, only revealing a planned early 2021 release. The 24-episode eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead will premiere in late 2021 and conclude in late 2022.

The Walking Dead Season 10 finale, "A Certain Doom," premieres Sunday, October 4 on AMC, followed by the series premiere of new spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.