5 things you need to know about The Walking Dead

1. Real actors play the zombies

Fancy being a walker on the show? Greg Nicotero who is the special makeup effects genius behind those amazing zombie creations onThe Walking Deadreveals the show recruits 15 to 20 actors every season to play the walkers.

“It’s like we audition for a theatre troupe; instead ofShakespeare In The Park, it’sZombies In The Woods,” he said in an interview.

Whip out your pen and paper everybody, Nicotero tells us what he looks for in those auditions: “It gives me a great opportunity to preview them for their looks. We find people that are chameleons in the makeup, for their movement and performance and most important of all, how well they take instructions on set.”

2. Georgia on my mind

Did you know that Alexandria inThe Walking Deadis actually a real-life, habitable town? It’s a part of a development known as the Gin Property in Senoia, Georgia.

Of course, residents of the town need to sign a non-disclosure agreement and keep their lips tightly sealed about the show. But the production team is very understanding, too, stopping filming if any of the residents need to, say, pass through a street to get to work or Pilates class.

3. Almost everything is authentic

The Walking Deadprops master John Sanders had to produce Carol’s infamous cookies with the exact ingredients listed on the show. “If I was doing a regular show, I would go to a store and buy the cookies and they’re happy with that. Not this show.

“I had made 12 different styles of brown cookies, from dark brown chocolate cookies all the way to the lightest chocolate cookie to see how much chocolate she would use in the number of cookies she was making. Remember, she found only a small amount of chocolate to make these cookies,” he says, adding the cookies were baked with applesauce, following the recipes the writers wrote.

4. When characters die

The show is known for killing off many of its integral characters unexpectedly. Just how much notice are the actors given before getting axed?

Michael Cudlitz reveals they get a three-episode notice while the shortest has been one-and-a-half episode. “A lot of that has to do with the stories changing, they don’t know from minute-to-minute. Change happens on the fly,” he dishes.

5. Zombies “age”, too

The walkers look more and more decomposed as the seasons go by. “Some of these walkers are fresh, some of them have been walking around for two years – they have to look the part,” Nicotero explains.

It’s important to mix both CGI and make-up to keep things fresh and inventive, he adds.