The Walking Dead Director Greg Nicotero Cameos in New Episode

AMC has revealed a behind-the-scenes look at zombie creator Greg Nicotero’s walker transformation in Sunday’s new episode of The Walking Dead. The longtime series executive producer, director, and special FX make-up designer cameos as a featured walker in “The Lucky Ones,” which premieres March 13 on AMC and is streaming now on AMC+. In the zombie make-up timelapse video, special effects make-up artist Gino Crognale transforms Nicotero into one of the undead that attacks when Commonwealth Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) tours the communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, and Oceanside. 

See the behind-the-scenes timelapse video and first-look photo at Nicotero’s walker cameo below, and watch the trailer for Sunday’s “The Lucky Ones” in the player above.

The KNB EFX Group co-founder has made multiple zombie cameos as the flesh-eating walkers he’s helped create since the first season of The Walking Dead in 2010. 

“I have a team of four permanent makeup artists. We’ve gotten to a point where we’re averaging about an hour and a half per character,” Nicotero told CNN ahead of the AMC zombie drama’s third season in 2012. “The extras come into the trailers; we don’t know who is coming in, and it’s sort of like having a new canvas every single time. They all have contact lenses; they all have custom dentures; some people we like to make more rotted than others. It all depends on the character and what we want to do on that particular day.”

Explaining the process behind the zombie make-up, Nicotero continued, “Some days, where we only have six or seven walkers, we’re able to take a little bit more time with them, make them particularly decomposed-looking. Days that we have 60 or 70, we break it down where we have ‘hero’ makeups, which are features, and ‘midground’ makeups, which are paint jobs, where we paint highlights and shadows on their faces to make them look dead, but they’re not intended to get too close to the camera. And we have ‘deep background.’”

“The Lucky Ones” premieres Sunday, March 13, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC, and is streaming early on AMC+. 

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