Makeup effects creator and executive producer of The Walking Dead, Greg Nicotero is one huge reason why the show is as popular as it has become. Nicotero is one half of the team behind KNB Effects, the leading makeup effects house in the world and he handles supervision of the effects for The Walking Dead, as well as serving as one of the show’s executive producers and leading directors. AMC has just announced the signing of Nicotero to a lucrative two-year with the network.
Nicotero will also serve as executive producer of the upcoming Walking Dead companion series. Under the rich two-year pact, he will continue as executive producer and director on both series while also developing new projects for the network.
In 2010, Nicotero was a top special effects makeup artist with more than 800 movies and TV projects under his belt when he was invited to help create the world of zombie apocalypse on The Walking Dead.
Since then, Nicotero has risen to an executive producer on the mothership TWD series and emerged as its leading director. He has directed 11 episodes, including the Season 5 premiere — currently the highest-rated episode in the history of the series — the midseason premieres for the last two seasons and the upcoming Season 5 finale. Nicotero also has been developing for AMC, with one of the projects, Galyntine, going to pilot, which he directed. The TWD companion series, which he executive produces, recently received a two-season pickup.
“Greg is a rare talent who has made an enormous contribution to the success of The Walking Dead, and now is also applying his creativity and nightmare-inducing genius to The Walking Dead companion series,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s EVP Programming, Production and Digital Content. “We are grateful to have him at AMC for years to come, where he will continue to push the bounds of what is possible in both terrifying and delighting viewers.”
This is great news for fans of Nicotero because it means we’ll be seeing a lot more of his work at AMC and hopefully some new horror stuff from him on the network.
Source: Deadline
