The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs Compares Coronavirus Pandemic to Living in Zombie Apocalypse

Chandler Riggs, who lived through eight seasons of the zombie apocalypse as Carl Grimes in The Walking Dead, says lockdowns and grocery shortages caused by the coronavirus pandemic is like living in an apocalypse triggering his “TWD PTSD.” Riggs’ admission comes after former co-stars Sarah Wayne Callies, who played Lori Grimes, and Tom Payne, who played Paul ‘Jesus’ Rovia, took to social media with advisories to “stay in the house, Carl,” in keeping with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to engage in such practices as self-monitoring, quarantine, social distancing and the avoidance of congregate settings such as movie theaters and other crowded public places.

“My power is out. no one is outside or driving on the roads. grocery store shelves are picked clean,” Riggs tweeted Saturday. “i truly feel like i’m in an apocalypse and it’s igniting my TWD PTSD.”

Riggs’ tweet comes after one Walking Dead fan recreated iconic imagery from the first season of the zombie drama showing Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) on horseback, riding into an eerily quiet and mostly abandoned Atlanta, Georgia, that was overrun by flesh-eating walkers. The picture was taken from the Jackson Street Bridge after Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed an executive order closing most areas of social gathering to prevent the spread of coronavirus, leaving the streets empty.

Other Walking Dead fans were quick to point out the zombie drama “predicted” toilet paper hoarding by examining a scene from the series’ premiere episode, “Days Gone Bye,” where Rick found himself in the care of survivors Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and son Duane (Adrian Kali Turner), who stashed a large supply of toilet paper in the earliest days of the outbreak of a deadly virus.

Last week, physical production on The Walking Dead Season 11 was pushed back several weeks due to coronavirus concerns. Showrunner Angela Kang later said the show was already “very well set up” to continue development on Season 11 remotely, even as AMC halted filming on Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 for up to a month and delayed the premiere date of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

“In some ways, we’ve been writing this show in this world for a decade. It’s based on source material. In some ways, it’s sideways from the beginning of an outbreak,” Kang told THR. “All of us are thinking a lot about our own families and people out in the world who are struggling with this. All of us working on a show like this, there’s a part of us who are very pro-preparedness for anything going wrong.”

She continued, “The thing a lot of us are thinking about is it’s good how people are really aware right now of how important public health is, and how it can really cause problems. We don’t want to see anyone turning against each other in times like these. Hopefully everyone can come together. Those are the big themes of our show.”

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays on AMC. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.