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Universal's permanent The Walking Dead attraction will open on July 4, and here's a sneak peek at the terrors (don't open, dead) inside.
If casting spells and sipping sweet Butter Beer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter doesn't do it for you, perhaps you will enjoy Universal's next attraction: a permanent Walking Dead installation full of walkers who want to eat your entrails. In a new video, Walking Dead executive producer Greg Nicotero and John Murdy, creative director at Universal Studios, show off a few of the horrors being put together at Nicotero's FX company KNB FX in Chatsworth.
"After six years of working on The Walking Dead, we have a great opportunity to take [the show] out of the studio, off the soundstage and into an attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood where guests can come face-to-face with walkers," Nicotero says in the video above.
The Walking Dead—based on the comic series of the same name by Robert Kirkman—begins in Georgia, where Officer Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to discover the entire world has gone to hell, overrun with both flesh-eating zombies and people who are really embracing the lawlessness of the apocalypse. Universal Studios Hollywood has been following the trajectory of the AMC show via their annual Halloween Horror Nights. Last year's attraction took guests through a winding maze full of cannibals—that's one solution to staying nourished after the end of the world—and trucks packed with snarling walkers.
Last year's Halloween Horror Nights (Photo by Annie Lesser/LAist)
Universal's year-round attraction will feature a mix of animatronic walkers and actors, as well as more intense set design and costuming. The park just held a massive audition for walkers earlier this month.
The attraction will be located in a new structure built specifically for it, just past the main entrance to the park. Guests must be at least 13 years old to partake, which seems a little kid-friendlier than the actual show.
