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Scenes for the barricaded town of "Woodbury" are filmed in
Senoia, Georgia. (Courtesy of Coweta County Convention
and Visitors Bureau)
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AMC’s The Walking Dead, basic cable’s most-watched dramatic series,
scored 12.4 million viewers in its third season finale, “Welcome to the Tombs,”
on March 31. Much of the third season’s episodes took place in fortified
Woodbury, a town under the control of “The Governor” (David Morrissey).
If you think fans have seen the
last of the barricaded town, think again. For the fourth season, the cast and
crew returns to the streets of Senoia, Georgia, where scenes for Woodbury are
filmed. Senoia (pronounced SEH-noy),
with a population of 3,300, is an hour’s drive south of Atlanta.
“When you see The Walking Dead in Woodbury, that’s
actually the main street of Senoia, which is totally blocked off for a day or
two or three for filming,” says Tray Baggarly, the camera ready liaison. A couple
of old school buses are hauled from storage on a vacant lot to make the
barricade that keeps Woodbury zombie-free. “They pull those in there and pile
everything all around—truck tires, just all sort of stuff,” says Baggarly. “Then through the early stages of filming they have a lot of trash and debris
everywhere.”
Businesses manage to stay open
during filming. “Everything is designed where they can open in the back. People
come in off the backstreets,” Baggarly explains. Senoia has also been used for interior
shots, including an old building off of Main Street used for the torture scenes
involving Glenn (Steven Yeun). While fans of the cable series may stroll the
streets of “Woodbury,” one place not open to visitors is the prison set. “The
prison was constructed at our studio,” explains Scott Tigchelaar, President of
Raleigh Studios Atlanta. “It is strictly off limits to the public.”
As fans of The Walking Dead discover Senoia is the real Woodbury, the town
enjoys a booming tourism. “It’s been unbelievable,” says Tray Baggarly. “We get
calls every day from all over the world. People want to know where the
filming’s going on, when it’s going on. We’ve had people showing up who are
making it their family vacation. It’s definitely bringing people in. When
they’re filming it looks like a festival, the cars are everywhere.” Senoia
residents are often used for extras, including a city councilman.
Meanwhile, zombies are on
standby when filming for the first of sixteen episodes of The Walking Dead’s fourth season begins this week. “They’re having hundreds of extras in the first
scenes,” Baggarly says.
