On Sunday night,The Walking Deadreturned to kick off the back half of Season 7 with the midseason premiereRock in the Road. The episode was directed by makeup effects artist and executive producerGreg Nicotero, who has been with the show since the beginning, and has, at times, used his position on the show to pay homage to his very first professional gig, onGeorge A. Romero’s zombie classicDay of the Dead, where he worked as an assistant to the legendaryTom Saviniand made his acting debut as Private Johnson. During this past Sunday night’s episode, many fans noticed that he paid tribute toDay of the Deadonce again by revealing a zombie that has come to be known as “Dr. Tongue.”
For fans who followGreg Nicotero’sInstagram, you likely knew this was coming for quite some time. When production wrapped on the entire season back in late November,Greg Nicoteroshared a brief behind-the-scenes video on Instagram that featured the Dr. Tongue zombie, but he wouldn’t specify when this zombie would appear this season. We got our answer during Sunday’s episode, when he was seen leaning against one of The Kingdom walls. While this zombie didn’t play a pivotal role in the story, this isn’t the first timeGreg Nicoterohas paid tribute to one of theDay of the Deadzombies.
In the penultimate Season 4 episodeUs, many fans noticed that the zombie affectionately known as “Bub,” popped up as one of the many zombies that Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) and Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson) had to fend off during a scene in a train tunnel. InDay of the Dead, Bub, played bySherman Howard, wasn’t you’re typical zombie. Despite being undead, he actually remembered parts of his past life and could be taught how to perform basic tasks like listening to music. As for Dr. Tongue, he had the special distinction of being the first zombie shown on screen duringDay of the Dead.
Greg Nicoterohas also paid tribute to other classic zombies such as the Plaid Shirt Zombie in the originalDawn of the Dead, the mud zombie fromLucio Fulci’sZombieand a reference to Jack Goodman’s zombie corpse fromAn American Werewolf in London. With seven more episodes left this season, it remains to be seen ifGreg Nicoterohas any other plans to bring some more iconic zombies intoThe Walking Dead universe. With seemingly no end in sight to the show, which has already been renewed for Season 8, there could be countless more zombie tributes in the future.
This season continues on Sunday, February 19 with the episodeNew Best Friends, airing at 9 PM ET on AMC. The very end ofRock in the Roadshowed Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his crew being ambushed by a brand new group of survivors, who we’ll get to meet in this new episode. We’ve already seen in the preview that Rick is trying to get them to join his fight against The Saviors, although it remains to be seen if they can be trusted. While we wait for more on this week’s episode ofThe Walking Dead, take a look at this videoGreg Nicoterosent out from the set featuring Dr. Tonuge, along with another photo from the set and a glimpse at the original Dr. Tongue fromDay of the Dead.
