The latest episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead finally gave viewers their first real glimpse into the community that is the Commonwealth.
The city is bustling and looks very much like the world before the zombie apocalypse hit. In fact, for many, it certainly gave off a similar vibe to Woodbury, which was headed by the Governor (David Morrissey), all the way back in Season 3 of The Walking Dead.
However, according to the series showrunner Angela Kang, the set for the Commonwealth was actually built over some other iconic places that featured in The Walking Dead.
The Commonwealth set was built in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Angela Kang revealed all when it came to the new set for the Commonwealth.
“It took many, many months to build this while the pandemic was going, so everybody worked incredibly hard. You’re building a town, a lot of it is facades and sets obviously, but they built a whole giant room with all these details,” Kang revealed.
She also noted that Greg Nicotero helped create the vibe of the town with how he directed the episode. Previously, Nicotero had been in charge of directing nearly every episode that featured a new community or town for the first time, so they knew he was up to the task.
Goodbye to the prison and the home of the Saviors
Kang also revealed that the Commonwealth had been built on their studio set in Senoia. However, with limited space, it turned out some older sets had to get the chop.
In particular, the set of the Sanctuary was demolished. This was previously the home to Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) group called the Saviors. Now that he is a member of Alexandria and his group has been disbanded, this makes sense.
“It took over the area that used to be the Saviors’ compound. Basically, it sits where the front of that factory was and the yard with all the zombies attached to the fence, which is also the same as part of where the prison was. So they tore down all of the Sanctuary sets and that took over that area,” Kang explained.
On top of that, the same area was once used for the prison (also known as the West Georgia Correctional Facility) that featured in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Walking Dead.
Season 11 of The Walking Dead is currently airing every Sunday night at 9/8c on AMC.