Over the three-day period at the Alabama Phoenix Festival. Lots of people had a good time seeing Larry Mainland, Sonya Thompson, and Savana Jade Wehunt talk about their experiences as zombies on The Walking Dead. The first panel titled Anatomy of a Zombie talked about what it’s like to be a zombie. And as Larry Mainland said “we’re dead!” This panel including Billy Tackett and Sam Fiegal talked about some interesting things about being a zombie. For one; some women are not ready to look like zombies. They do not like to see themselves destroyed with the hair and makeup on their face.
And the panel also talked about the process of being converted to a zombie. It takes on average 1-2 hours to transform someone to a zombie. Some of the tougher zombie transformations can take as long as 4-5 hours. And the panel talked about what a hero conversion is. It’s the full zombie transformation to be ready to be in front of the camera. We also got to learn some of the new aspects of being a zombie. Could a zombie actually mate and produce a baby? We might get to see that in the future. Now how do the people on The Walking Dead make those zombie growls? And what do other parts of the world think of zombies? Let this panel tell you about it. Sonya Thompson’s growl is great!
On the last day of the Alabama Phoenix Festival. This panel titled Dead Tired talked about The Walking Dead comic books and TV show. The three Walking Dead zombie guests with Stan Daniel and Daniel Emery Taylor talked in more detail about The Walking Dead Franchise. The comic book and TV show characters are exactly the same. In fact if you are dying to know what’s next in the TV show. Just pick up the comic books and you will get an idea on what is next. Now sure; some of the TV show is not based on the comic books. But the guests said that season three of the TV show will be more action packed than season two and will follow the comic book more closely. Watch the video below to see why they hate people who leak stuff from the show.
Savana Jade Wehunt was a zombie walker in season two of The Walking Dead. Before being in the show she really loved being in front of the camera and even directed plays in high school. She has no agent and goes to college at The University of West Georgia in Carrollton. She e-mailed stats about herself for a chance to be on the show. And when she found out she got invited to zombie school. She danced around her room like she won Justin Bieber tickets! Around 40,000 people applied and around little over 100 people got invited.
Her latest project later this summer will be a remake of the movie Night of the Living Dead. She talked about how she scares people in various haunted houses and at Fright Fest at Six Flags Over Georgia. It’s best to have a back story to help describe the zombie character. She also talked about how she enjoys chasing guests inside the park until they scream! That gave everyone a laugh.
Did you know that the guests had to get permission from AMC-TV to sell photographs of themselves in their zombie selves? Plus they all had to sign contracts to keep quiet about any future developments on The Walking Dead TV show. Some guests wanted to ask questions about season three of The Walking Dead. But they legally can’t talk about it. The entire panel agreed on one thing! “Zombies are so hot right now!”
The actors and actresses on the TV show really do work hard in any weather conditions to get the show right. They have worked in hot weather where the makeup was trying to come off. And at times they worked in freezing temps where the actors wanted more makeup to stay warm. The crew sometimes work up to 16-18 hours a day to get the show done! The panel also commended the makeup crews for doing an awesome job on the zombies. The looks are amazing on the TV show!
The panel also talked about the emotion of the show. The Walking Dead shows emotion about what would happen if a zombie apocalypse occurred. It’s not only about killing zombies it’s also about survival in the zombie world. So what would be the first thing to happen if the zombie apocalypse occurred? The panel suggested there would be riots at gun and pawn shops. I could agree with that! And another thought in the zombie world. How far would you go to save someone from the zombies?
Now what would cause the zombie apocalypse? The panel gave some interesting suggestions. Some possibilities include vaccines, witches, black magic, food additives, and the government did it. But there was one possibility that was interesting. Could your brain and nervous system stay alive after you die? The belief is after you die fluid builds in your brain causing the white light effect. That could keep your nervous system alive. You’re dead but your body is still walking in a zombie after-life. That was an interesting belief. And that is why you have to shoot a zombie in the head to kill them for good.
So yes I had a very good time at The Walking Dead panels. Larry Mainland held up a GQ Magazine article about The Walking Dead. Thank you guests for looking at my camera in an interesting way.
Like the fan pages of the guests!
Larry Mainland: https://www.facebook.com/LarryMainlandFanPage
Savana Jade Wehunt: https://www.facebook.com/SavanaJadeWehuntFanPage
Sonya Thompson: https://www.facebook.com/sthompson70
Categories: Convention Talk Stuff, Event Coverage Stuff, Geeks and Nerds Stuff
Thanks for such a wonderful story on our panels. I had a great time meeting each person!!! ~Sonya Thompson
I enjoyed being at the Alabama Phoenix Festival. Thanks for coming out and thanks for commenting.