Inside the Call of Duty x The Walking Dead Zombies Crossover

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with AMC Head of Franchise Clayton Neuman and Sledgehammer Games Content Art Director Jon Riva about the new Call of Duty and The Walking Dead crossover. The duo discussed the collaborative process and working with Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira.

“Call of Duty and The Walking Dead have been bringing Zombies to eager fans for a combined 40 years through comic books, video games and a global phenomenon television franchise. This is the first time that these heavyweights of pop culture have combined forces to create a special The Walking Dead collaboration in Call of Duty.”

Tyler Treese: How did this deal kind of come together? Had you been looking to collaborate for a while and this was the right opportunity? Or was this a totally new working relationship?

Clayton Neuman: There’s such a strong thematic through line between the two properties, The Walking Dead and Call of Duty, from the gritty realism to the epic scale and the legions of diehard fans. It’s been one of these things that we’ve always wanted to try to find a way to work together. Doing so at this moment in time, when AMC is about to bring back two of these iconic characters from the series for a new epic series … timed with Modern Warfare 3’s release and the zombie mode, it just felt like a sort of kismet timing. We were really excited we were able to put it together.

Rick and Michonne have had years of being on television and such a storied history. How was it determining their look for Call of Duty? Was it going off their designs in The Ones Who Live? Or was it a “greatest hits” thing? What was the inspiration there?

Jon Riva: I think it was just a collab with AMC on bringing what was iconic, but also paying tribute to what’s next. Michonne’s more in line with that sort of thing. Rick’s got that classic look, and then we had the Blackcell opportunity as well. So I think it was just working through the variety of all their great costumes and aesthetics and just making sure that they’re iconic and recognizable right away.

Clayton, you mentioned the synergy — there are zombies, so that’s a very natural fit, but what’s most exciting about doing this collab with Call of Duty and reaching that audience? There is that connection point, but Call of Duty is the most popular shooter, so there’s probably a whole audience that hasn’t checked out the show as well.

Clayton Neuman: We’re really excited to bring the Walking Dead to that audience. The Walking Dead was the most successful show in the history of cable television. It has successfully transitioned to three very successful spin-off series as well. We do feel like there is some overlap. One of the things that we saw was a lot of enthusiasm when the collaboration was announced from both Call of Duty fans and The Walking Dead fans. The two franchises were coming together. We saw a lot of comments from Call of Duty fans about what other characters from The Walking Dead they want to see in the game. So, like I said, there is a natural fit there, but broadening the Walking Dead audience with Call of Duty’s was a huge draw for us.

Jon, there’s the “Fear of the Living” event coming up. What can players expect to see from that?

Jon Riva: Well, they’re probably going to have to wait to see what’s happening in the event, for sure. But I can tell you it’s exciting and as players play the characters, they’re going to see a lot of those tropes from the show and what we tied in, and I think there’s going to be a lot of throwbacks and homages, but also still feel [like] Call of Duty.

Rick’s already in the game, and there are a few fun character lines like Rick referring to the Zombies as Walkers. How was it making sure to throw those little individualized touches into the game?

Jon Riva: I think it’s easy as far as the relationship we had with AMC and just making sure they know their characters better than anything. We know what COD needs, like voice lines and those sorts of things. It was a very easy transition to say, “Hey, what would you guys say in these situations?” And sure enough, probably they have said it at some point during The Walking Dead, so it always is those great homages. And then just making sure we have the Basilisk representing Rick’s gun and making sure that the characters feel like they’re still the same characters, but in our verse. It was a great, it was a great collab.

Clayton Neuman: I think it also helped having Andrew Lincoln [Rick actor] and Danai Gurira [Michonne actress] in the studio recording those lines. AMC knows Rick and Michonne pretty well, but nobody knows Rick and Michonne better than Andy and Danai, so they were able to bring that authenticity to the characters when they were doing those VO lines. Like Jon said, finding ways to incorporate elements from The Walking Dead lore and these iconic weapons and all the elements that people will recognize, but putting a sort of unique COD spin on them. That was a really fun collaboration. I think we ended up at a really great place.

Jon Riva: Yeah, Andy and Danai did the voice lines and they participated in 3D scans for the models.

How excited were they to do that? Did they have any interest in Call of Duty or any stories there?

Clayton Neuman: I wouldn’t want to speak for them on that front, but they were very happy to participate.

Clayton, what’s the back and forth approval process like? Obviously we’ve seen other crossovers before — how does that work on your side?

Clayton Neuman: Yeah, I mean, we try to be very collaborative with our partners. We try to understand what the needs are for the game and, at the same time, protect the brand. We found it less of an approved/disapproved process than a conversation and figuring out what works for both the brand and the game. We’ll please both fanbases and also honor both properties

Michonne’s coming out later on. Is she going to be using her blades? What can we expect from her finishing moves and how she is in the game?

Jon Riva: You’ll probably have to wait and see, but I can tell you that we tried to stay true to the character as much as we could and worked with AMC to make sure that Michonne is Michonne. We’re set with limitations. Clayton mentioned those, and they have limitations on what they want to protect their brand. I think it turned out to be probably a great middle ground for us both. It is awesome and I’m excited about Michonne. You’ll see a trailer upcoming, if it’s not released now, and it’s amazing trailer, so you’ll see all the goodies inside there.

I’d love to hear both of you guys’ experience with the early reaction from fans for Rick. There’s been a lot of excitement and I’ve been seeing him used all over the place. How has it been on your end, seeing the integration and the fan reaction?

Clayton Neuman: I think it’s been really exciting from an AMC perspective, how positively it’s been received, like I said, the enthusiasm from fans asking for other characters from the franchise in the game. I think it’s been really exciting and I think it really proves the enduring allure of these characters across the media landscape, whether it’s looking forward to “The Ones Who Live” or the next COD drop.

Jon Riva: From my side, it was pretty cool to see the fans’ reaction. We have Rick in the battle pass and then we have this Blackcell variant, and he’s got his sheriff’s hat in there, so it’s kind of like a double homage to him. You never know with a partnership, but I think we were hoping it would be like this, and it turned out like this, so it was great. It was great.

Jon, are there any small details in the character models that have already been released that maybe fans haven’t really picked up on or anything that would surprise them?

Jon Riva: I mean, we always try to put Easter eggs in stuff that is in Call of Duty — that’s just how we work. But it’s great for the fans to explore them and find them themselves. I think diehard fans will find stuff, and I think, especially with Michonne, I think some character voice lines that haven’t been triggered … you have to be in specific modes. So I think it’s gonna be exciting just to see what the season of discovery’s like for players to go through those operators.

You’ve talked about a lot of fan requests. It seems to be popular already, but is it possible that going down the line in the future, we could see more collabs like this? Obviously Daryl and Carol, but there are a lot more great characters that could be a good fit here.

Clayton Neuman: I would love to see more collaborations with Activision. We’ve got the sort of second chapter of the Walking Dead universe just kicking off. We’ve got Daryl Dixon with The Book of Carol premiering later this year. We’ve got a second season of Dead City coming. There’s a lot of stuff that the AMC franchise team is working on in the game space. I’d certainly love to see more collaborations with Activision.