March 2, 2024
3 minute read
NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey continues to maintain an active presence in The Walking Dead franchise with the release of the limited series, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which aired yesterday. Audiences recently caught a sneak preview of this spinoff during the halftime of Super Bowl LVIII. The project was supported by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) Film and Digital Media Tax Credit program.
The production company, AMC, reported spending over $68 million in state for labor, goods, and services while filming The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, and hired 469 New Jersey residents as cast and crew members.
“Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, New Jersey continues to serve as a competitive location for filming due to our wide array of landscapes, highly skilled workforce, and attractive tax incentive programs,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan. “Popular productions, like The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, are helping support New Jersey’s growing film and digital media sector, as well as our economy, by creating good-paying jobs and supporting small businesses across the state.”
Many locations in North and Central Jersey can be seen in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Recurring sets were built at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, while the Dobco property in Wayne stood in for the Cascade Mountains. Additional filming took place in West Milford, doubling as both Yellowstone National Park and Montana’s Norris Geyser Basin, and at the Alpine Scout Camp, Bayonne Marine Terminal, Branch Brook Park in Newark, Hamilton Park in Jersey City, Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, Ringwood State Park, and the River Barge Park and Marina in Carlstadt. Shooting also took place in Bayonne, East Newark, Lyndhurst, Passaic, Rahway, and Springfield.
“The Walking Dead sequels utilized a wide variety of locations as backgrounds in this sprawling saga,” said New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission Chairman Michael Uslan. “New Jersey’s plethora of sites, many of which have never been filmed, provided vivid backdrops for the staging of the many complex action sequences the storylines required.”
The miniseries is the sixth spinoff in The Walking Dead universe and chronicles the love story between Rick and Michonne Grimes following the conclusion of the original show. Scott M. Gimple, Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead franchise, co-created the six-episode series, which premiered Sunday, February 25th.
Andrew Lincoln and Dana Gurira reprise their roles as Rick and Michonne, with Lesley-Ann Brandt, Pollyanna McIntosh, Terry O’Quinn, Matthew Jeffers, Andrew Bachelor, Craig Wolf, Breeda Wool, and Frankie Quinones co-starring.
New Jersey previously hosted the The Walking Dead: Dead City in 2022. This six-episode spinoff series was filmed on location in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Union, and Warren Counties.
New Jersey’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program was instrumental in attracting “The Ones Who Live.” The program offers eligible production companies a transferable tax credit of up to 35% on qualified film production expenses, plus an additional 2% or 4% diversity bonus for qualified productions.
Other projects recently filmed in state include the BET+ original series Diarra from Detroit, the Amazon MGM romantic comedy Música and the Sony Pictures drama It Ends With Us.
About the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission
The NJMPTVC, which is part of the NJEDA, is staffed by industry professionals and serves as a resource for production companies. The Commission promotes film and television production in New Jersey.
About the NJEDA
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) serves as the State’s principal agency for driving economic growth. The NJEDA is committed to making New Jersey a national model for inclusive and sustainable economic development by focusing on key strategies to help build strong and dynamic communities, create good jobs for New Jersey residents, and provide pathways to a stronger and fairer economy. Through partnerships with a diverse range of stakeholders, the NJEDA creates and implements initiatives to enhance the economic vitality and quality of life in the State and strengthen New Jersey’s long-term economic competitiveness.
To learn more about NJEDA resources for businesses, call NJEDA Customer Care at 844-965-1125 or visit https://www.njeda.gov and follow @NewJerseyEDA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
