The Walking Dead Season 10 Finale Delay Explained by Director and VFX Supervisor

The Walking Dead Season 10 finale “will not disappoint” after being postponed to later this year, promises director and executive producer Greg Nicotero. The coronavirus pandemic impacting all three Walking Dead shows makes it “impossible” to complete post-production on the Season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom,” forcing the season to end prematurely with its 15th episode, “The Tower,” Sunday, April 5, AMC noted in a statement. The delay comes after the cabler pushed back physical production on The Walking Dead Season 11 by three to four weeks, paused filming on Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 for up to a month and postponed the series premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, originally scheduled to follow the mothership series’ Season 10 finale on Sunday, April 12.

“Post production for those who are curious involves [visual effects], music, sound mixing and sound FX,” Nicotero wrote on Instagram. “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,” Nicotero continued. “Be safe everyone.”

The delay is to “prioritize safety,” tweeted Aaron McLane, visual effects supervisor on The Walking Dead since Season 9.

“So disappointed that it came to this but we have to keep our teams protected. When COVID hit many of the studios had to slow down so their employees would be safe. We will deliver a great finale ASAP,” McLane tweeted. “Post production usually goes on for months after filming wraps. That’s editing, VFX, music, sound design, color correction, and delivery. We work on an episode up to a few weeks before air. The finale will be amazing but we had to prioritize safety.”

Showrunner Angela Kang and the writers’ room are continuing work on Season 11 remotely. The various Walking Dead teams are “monitoring everything with the advice from government, and even stronger than advice in most cases, to make sure everyone is healthy and safe,” Scott Gimple, TWD chief content officer, told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Like everyone else, once we’re given the all clear, we’re ready to roar back. Just like with everybody else, it’s this weird moment of pause,” Gimple said. “There are so many people who work on these shows. Between the three shows, we’re talking about [numbering] in the thousands. We want everyone safe and healthy. That’s the deal. We all have to pull together to make sure everyone is safe and healthy.”

He continued, “All the shows are in some degree or another of writing. Fear the Walking Dead didn’t have a ton of writing left, but a good amount of it. We’re cooking on [writing The Walking Dead] Season 11. People were starting to peel off and write their scripts, and that’s moving along. Post can work remotely to a degree. There’s a good amount of work on all of the shows that needed to be done in rooms, and we’re still doing that, just not together.”

According to spoilery synopses for the remaining episodes this season, the season closer sees Whisperer Beta (Ryan Hurst) engage the final battle of the Whisperer War after discovering murdered leader Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) decapitated head spiked at the Whisperer border in this Sunday’s 1014, “Look at the Flowers.”

AMC has not announced a new date for The Walking Dead Season 10 finale airing as a special episode. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.