Likely no trailer for The Walking Dead at SDCC at Home 2020

Seeing the trailer for The Walking Dead has been a SDCC tradition, until now

Every July, The Walking Dead fans gather in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con to finally get a glimpse of the trailer for the upcoming season. Fans at home wait near their computers for journalists with their nimble thumbs to tweet details about the cast panel and the trailer until the trailer goes live later on. The trailer has been a yearly tradition, until now.

SDCC had been cancelled amid concerns for safety, but now Comic-Con International has announced an at-home version of the event, SDCC at Home, featuring panels, cosplay and even a virtual exhibit hall. There’s no question that The Walking Dead will have some kind of presence, but there won’t be a trailer for season 11.

With the sweeping impact of novel coronavirus across the world, production on television shows and films has grinded to a halt. California is slowly releasing guidelines for shows to resume production, but it’s not easy. COVID-19 flare-ups are still a problem, and there’s a general reluctance from studios to put their casts and crews at risk.

In the case of The Walking Dead, the writers were able to work through the pandemic in a virtual writer’s room, putting together stories for season 11 even though the season 10 finale hasn’t even been finished. (It has been filmed, but the crew needs to get into the Los Angeles studios to finish post-production work on the episode, which includes sound mixing, visual effects and music)

Though the scripts exist, there is no indication that filming on The Walking Dead will resume in Georgia any time soon.

That means there will be no trailer for season 11 at SDCC at Home.

Obviously this is a major disappointment for the TWD Family, but safety is key. The cast and crew went home when the shutdown orders were issued, and that means there are people all over the world who would have to travel back to Georgia to film. Some of the cast are still under lockdown orders while others do not feel safe enough to travel at this time. It’s understandable, because the risk of contracting the disease from traveling is real.

While there won’t be a trailer, there’s every reason to believe that AMC and SDCC will find a way to bring some content to fans, whether it’s a panel with the cast or a taped message. So there is a silver lining to the story, and in time the restrictions will be lifted and filming will resume. For now, we’ll take the little victories as they come.