After 11 seasons and 177 episodes, the AMC TV series The Walking Dead officially came to an end last night – and longtime viewers got a special treat during the series finale’s commercial breaks. In ads for Autodesk, Deloitte, DoorDash, MNTN, and Ring that were produced by Ryan Reynolds’ company Maximum Effort and AMC Networks’ Content Room, the products are hyped by zombified versions of long-lost Walking Dead characters Rodney (dead since season 9), Milton (dead since season 3), Gareth (dead since season 5), and Andrea (also dead since season 3). Actors Joe Ando Hirsh, Dallas Roberts, Andrew West, and Laurie Holden reprised their roles for these commercials. A compilation of the “Walking Deadvertising” commercials can be seen at the bottom of this article.
Deadline notes that Dan Sanborn of Kimmelot, which is Jimmy Kimmel’s company for “developing and producing television, digital programming, films, mobile applications, and products”, was also involved with “putting together the brand-straddling narratives.”
Reynolds told Deadline, “Ads should be fun. The Walking Dead has generated more cultural conversation over the last decade than any other property and we wanted to honor that by bringing a few characters back from the dead in some fun contextual ads. (Commercials) can be a part of the cultural conversation as they once so frequently were. They just need a little more love, attention and mischief.“
Content Room’s Kim Granito said that this idea of mixing the world of Walking Dead into commercials “is one of the many ways we can contextually bring a brand to life.“
The five commercials featuring The Walking Dead characters were shot in two days, at two key locations. Check them out in the video embed below, then let us know what you thought of them by leaving a comment. Were you glad to see Rodney, Milton, Gareth, and Andrea again?