The Walking Dead
Because I travel so much for work and because of the chaos that is holiday travel, I almost always stay home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, however, I visited my sister, brother-in-law, and mother in suburban Atlanta and was joined there by my brother and his family, from Tucson. They are in none of these pictures. This webpage is about how I spent Friday, 25 November 2016. (Click on any of the smaller pictures below to enlarge it; hover your cursor over all but the last two pictures to read the accompanying caption.)
Morning in Senoia
One of several plaques in the downtown sidewalks, acknowledging the TV show or movie filmed here
Executive producer, special make-up effects supervisor, and occasional director Greg Nicotero and star Norman Reedus opened this restaurant in town
The official Walking Dead store, with a small museum in the basement. When the store was open and after the tour I bought some books here.
Us walkers inside the Georgia Tour Company before the start of the tour
Tour guide Mara, dressed like Rosita, getting ready to start the tour
Though it's shot at several sites south of Atlanta, the primary filming location for the AMC television show The Walking Dead is Senoia, Georgia. (Contrary to the way the word looks, Senoia is pronounced si-NOY, with the a being silent.) Shooting takes place from May through the middle of November, which means I missed by a week watching live segments of the season seven finale. The first season, six episodes, was shot in Atlanta-proper; season two on a private farm not too far from Senoia; a significant part of the third and fourth season were filmed in Senoia, itself doubling for fictional Woodbury in the show, although a real town called Woodbury is twenty-four miles south of Senoia; and much of the past three seasons have been shot in in Senoia, about fifty yards from its downtown, in a development called Alexandria in the show.
Conveniently located for me, the little town was less than a twenty-minute drive from Fayetteville, where I was staying. Because of my mostly-Type A personality I arrived in Senoia ninety minutes before a walking tour of the area was scheduled to start. I strolled around the two-block downtown, deserted at this hour, save for a few bicyclists, and primed myself for the upcoming formal walk. The Georgia Tour Company organizes these, which take place twice or more a day, depending on the time of year. They are scheduled to last two- to two-and-a-half hours and are led by a host dressed like one of the Walking Dead characters. The actual area covered on the tour is small, but the detail the guide goes into is substantial, keeping the guests both satiated and salivating for more.
"Rosita" describing one of the filming locations to my group of twenty-two walkers of all ages, races, and genders
Some of my group standing in front of what in the show was the Woodbury Bank
The water tower, which viewers can see throughout the past five seasons
In real-life a dentist's office, in the show we see Andrea and the Governor looking out these windows
Foreshadowing for Morgan's return in season five
The Safe House
The main gate to Woodbury
Where Carl ate all that pudding
The photos below show locations mostly from the third and fourth seasons.
The main gate to Alexandria
Alexandria, from the outside looking in
Alexandria, from the outside looking in
Alexandria, from the outside looking in
Ignore the SUV. Carl and Enid have one or two scenes in front of this wall, which is actually part of an old building
Alexandria, from the outside looking in
The collapsed watch tower
Alexandria, from the outside looking in
We'll be seeing this building from this view soon in season seven
Sorry, Glenn, I'm with Maggie now
Much of the past three seasons take place in Alexandria, where our heroes, living and dead, have all sorts of adventures. While a couple of the houses and the church are false-fronts or empty shells, the other buildings in this development are real and occupied, with the television crew and the residents cooperating during filming. (We weren't allowed inside the perimeter.)
The tour ended up lasting three hours, but it seemed shorter than that. As wonderful as it was to see so many of the filming locations of this landmark program; as great as Mara was as our guide, describing what we were looking at and telling us stories of her encounters with many members of the cast and crew; and as glorious as it was to be outside in the sunny, seventy-plus-degree weather, what I loved most about this tour was spending time with those with whom I share a passion, even if it is just a TV show. When we'd stop in front of a house or store front, Mara would preface her remarks with "Remember that scene when...," and we'd get all excited and start talking about it before she could say a word. That was so much fun. It's the eccentrics and geeks and nerds who make the world interesting and I just don't get to spend enough time with people like that. But I did on this day, and it was exquisite.