Greg Nicotero expands his ever impressive resume with a new reality series from Shudder, Guts & Glory. The unscripted horror-based competition series premiered on the stream on October 14. Nicotero is well known for his work as a director, EP, and SFX guru within TWDU, but the series also has another fun tie-in to AMC's long-running apocalyptic series.
Entertainment Weekly had the opportunity to sit down with Nicotero and discuss the new series, including how the contestants were misled about filming locations. After arriving in Atlanta, the contestants took a bus to Alabama, where they were told filming would take place. After spending one night in a hotel, they returned to the bus, with blacked out windows, and were promptly taken back to Georgia, more specifically to the backlot of The Walking Dead studios.
While the contestants didn't recognize their surroundings, Nicotero was very familiar with the location, having been involved with TWD from the beginning. “Their camp was literally where the Whisperers' camp was. But they couldn't see the sound stages, so they thought they were in the middle of nowhere.” The Whisperers were the skin-wearing bad guys featured in seasons 9 and 10.
Another iconic TWD location was used for one of Guts & Glory's big competitions featured in episode 2. They used the abandoned hospital that was also used to film the shocking death of Beth Greene (Emily Kinney) in the TWD episode 508, "Coda." Nicotero also used this location in his Creepshow series, which also streams on Shudder.
Guts & Glory is a unique twist on reality TV, submerging the contestants into the world of horror. The experience gets its inspiration from horror films and Universal's Halloween Horror Nights scenarios. Nicotero has described the series as a meld of The Blair Witch Project and Survivor.
The first two episodes of the six-part series premiered on Shudder and AMC+ on October 14. New episodes release weekly on Tuesdays, concluding with a two episode season finale on November 4.
Below is a video that features an incredible look behind-the-scenes of Guts & Glory.
Nicotero continues his work within TWDU on the spinoff series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which is set and filmed in Spain. He directed an episode in season 2, and he and his KNB team collaborate with a local SFX crew on the special effects.
He will also write and direct the pilot an adaptation of the award-winning novel from Robert McCammon, Swan Song.