On March 1, 2015, AMC aired The Walking Dead episode “Remember,” and there was a special guest walker. Guitarist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax, Scott Ian, got the royal walker SFX treatment by Greg Nicotero and his talented team from KNB EFX to be transformed into a walker for the episode.
If you remember the episode, Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group newly arrives at Alexandria, and Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) took their weapons. Being smart, Rick hid a gun in a pile of junk outside the community’s walls in the previous episode. In “Remember,” he heads out to retrieve the weapon, which is no longer in the blender where he left it.
Carl (Chandler Riggs) comes upon him, and they are swarmed by some walkers, which they quickly take down with their knives. While taking down the last one, Rick’s leg is grabbed by a walker trapped under the pile of junk. This is Scott Ian. Carl quickly takes him out with a pole to the head.
Below is a video that is part of Scott Ian’s Bloodworks series featuring the whole process of transforming Ian and the other walkers in the scene for the episode. The team at KNB EFX group are amazingly talented at what they do.
Ian shares that he was a reader of the comics before the series began and became a massive fan of the show. He thought it would be the most incredible thing to be transformed into a walker for the series.
Ian fanboys a bit in the video when he meets Andrew Lincoln, which is fun to see.
I also appeared as a walker in The Walking Dead Webisodes: Torn Apart episode six, “Everything Dies.”
Below Scott Ian talked with Loudwire about his appearance on The Walking Dead.
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