Johnny Depp was in The Walking Dead, sort of

By Christine Persaud March 7, 2016

walking dead depp head johnny — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you watched last night’s action-packed episode of The Walking Dead, [spoiler alert], you know that the gang finally made their move to attack Negan’s gang, The Saviors. And there was one unsavory scene in particular that had viewers gasping.

In it, the group chops off three walker heads and lay them out — as if choosing wedding cake — to select one that most resembles Hilltop leader, Gregory (played by Xander Berkley). The idea was to fool the Saviors into thinking that they’re serving up Gregory’s head to them on a platter. (OK, more like in a bag, but you get the picture.)

If you watch Talking Dead, Chris Hardwick’s live talk show about the popular program, you will have learned that one of those heads was actually made from a mold of co-executive producer and special effects supervisor Greg Nicotero. But did you know that another was actually made from none other than Johnny Depp’s face? Yes, according to an interview Nicotero gaveEntertainment Weekly, the A-lister’s head was behind option number three from which the group could select. (He could not recall who served as the model for head number two.)

Nicotero reveals that Berkley could not make it to town in time for them to make a mold of his head, so they used one of Nicotero’s, which ended up being pretty passable (with a little help from Rick’s – Andrew Lincoln’s – strong hand.) As for Depp, Nicotero told EW (prefaced by noting that he didn’t know if he was “going to get in trouble if I say this,”) that the dead-head was, in fact, an emaciated version of a dummy head of Depp that was used for something else.

Certainly, this wasn’t Depp’s finest “on-screen” moment. But when it comes too celebrity cameos, this one certainly is ahead of all the rest.

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Christine Persaud

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Christine has decades of experience in trade and consumer journalism. While she started her career writing exclusively about…

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