'The Walking Dead': Greg Nicotero Reveals New Anthology Series Details

Greg Nicotero is as much of a veteran as they come in the horror genre. His work as do-it-all [...]

By Brandon Davis

Greg Nicotero is as much of a veteran as they come in the horror genre. His work as do-it-all utility man on AMC's The Walking Dead has proven the executive producer, director, and make-up artist is more than capable of telling his own horror stories. Soon, he'll be doing just that on the same network.

Nicotero will be executive producing a new horror/sci-fi anthology series titled Shock Theater on AMC with Matt Lambert, Gail Berman, and Joe Earley. The Walking Dead mastermind, whose resume extends as far as working on Day of the Dead 32 years ago, opened up about his new series in a recent EW interview.

"We're writing now, and it's an anthology so every episode will have a different story and a different cast and a different vibe and a different feel," Nicotero said. "So I think that that allows us a tremendous amount of freedom and a tremendous opportunity to do a lot of different things."

Nicotero often pays tribute to some of his favorite horror titles or moments through his work on The Walking Dead, especially with his "tribute zombies" every now and then, but Shock Theater allows him to do so much more.

"Shock Theatre is my homage to '50s horror movies," Nicotero said. "I've always loved that genre, the idea that people would take things that they were terrified of in society at that time and turn them into some sort of fantastic outrageous sci-fi monster movie. Back then it was the Cold War, it was going to outer space, it was radiation. Everything that people were afraid of, they're like, 'Well, listen, if this is something we're afraid of, we're going to figure out a way to deal with it psychologically, so we're going to do a little movie about it and try to clear our conscience, so to speak.'"

"I always loved that," Nicotero added. "I thought that there was something so fun about it. And that's what Shock Theatre is. Shock Theatre is taking relevant themes today and putting that kind of fun Shaun of the Dead twist on them. I think Shaun of the Dead is probably the closest in tone that I can ever think about for Shock Theatre because it was funny and thrilling, and you love the characters, and it was scary, and had great moments in it, and was all-around completely entertaining. That's the goal."

There is no word yet on a premiere date for Shock Theater but Nicotero's work as director of The Walking Dead Season 8 premiere will air on AMC at 9 pm ET on October 22nd.

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