Skip to main content

5 things we learned about being a 'Walking Dead' zombie


The rain might have kept some people away from Timeline Arcade’s “The Walking Dead” event Saturday.

But die-hard fans didn’t miss a chance to meet actors from their favorite show.

Bethany Ring and her daughter Alexis said they drove from Frederick, Md. for the event, which included meet-and-greets, toy and comic vendors and a "Walking Dead"-themed pinball machine. And Cody Smith, of Dover, brought a group of friends for his dad's bachelor party.

"It was pretty fun getting to know the background of who's actually behind the work," Alexis Ring said.

Santiago Cirilo (Julio in season four), Amber Dawn Fox (Officer Bello in season five), Jeremy Ambler (walker in season two and the face of most of "The Walking Dead" merchandise) and Don Teems (walker in season three and four) spent the afternoon signing autographs for dozens of fans.

But they also made time to play arcade games, show off their zombie walks and talk to us about what it’s like to be on set of "The Walking Dead."

Here are five things we learned about being a walker from “The Walking Dead.”

The actors spend two and a half hours in makeup every day.

Teems said he has appeared in about 25 episodes in seasons three and four. And every day, during that time period, he spent almost three hours in makeup. That includes prosthetics, contacts and teeth, he said, which aren’t very comfortable, especially under the hot Georgia sun. It doesn’t take much acting to walk like a zombie, he said, because wearing all of those prosthetics in that heat really makes you feel like one.

They’re typically on set 12-18 hours a day.

Even though they don’t have speaking roles, a typical work day for a walker starts at 3 a.m., Teems said. They spend the first few hours in makeup, but from sun-up to sun-down they’re out in the field rehearsing and filming their scenes.

“The days fly by,” he said. “We’re constantly doing stuff.”

Sometimes, they rehearse the same scene as many as 150 times.

Teems said he had a boot-shaped bruise on his chest from being kicked over and over again during rehearsal of a fight scene. Fight scenes typically take a lot longer to practice because you have to get the logistics down just right, he said.

They repeatedly come back from the dead.

Everyone knows characters on “The Walking Dead” don’t last forever. Fans tune in every week to see who will be killed off next. But when a walker is killed off from the show, the actor can come back again as a different character. If you watch closely, you’ll see Teems reappearing on the show as a number of different walkers. In his two seasons, Teems said his characters have been killed at least 10 times.

“They just remake us in different costumes so they can bring us back,” he said.

Watch them show us how to walk like a zombie.

If you’re going to be a walker, you have to perfect that zombie walk. It’s all about the hunched shoulders, slow side-step and snarl. But, let’s be honest. Words don’t do it justice. Take a look at how it’s done below.

play
Video: 'The Walking Dead' actor demos zombie walk
Jeremy Ambler, who appeared as a walker in two episodes of \u0022The Walking Dead,\u0022 shows us his best zombie walk.
Abbey Zelko, FlipSidePA