The look of the zombies on 'The Walking Dead' spin-off were inspired by two characters from the original show
When work commenced on "The Walking Dead" spin-off, "Fear the Walking Dead," a lot of planning went into how the new series' zombies would look and feel.
Not only will these zombies - who are referred to as "infected" - be shown in a different climate from the original series, but, since the series brings us back to the start of the zombie apocalypse, they'll also look much more human.
In order to make that a reality, executive producer and makeup artist Greg Nicotero tells Tech Insider the eyes were a big focus of creating the newly undead.
Specifically, the series' makeup supervisor says he used two characters from the original series as a reference point for "Fear."
"We went with a lot more of a cataract look on the eyes," says Nicotero. "We sort of used Shane and Amy, from season one, as our reference and when Amy turned we had sort of slight broken blood vessels and kind of a cataract look across her eyes. We didn't go as severe as 'The Walking Dead' contact lenses because in 'The Walking Dead' the eyes are pretty dramatic."
Here's how the eyes of the first undead on "Fear the Walking Dead" look:
Here's how Shane (Jon Bernthal), Rick Grimes' friend and work partner, looked when he first turned into a zombie in season two, episode 12. Take a close look at his eyes.
And here's Amy when she changed early in the series.
Amy was Andrea's sister from season one of "The Walking Dead."
"I look at the eyes like rotting eggs in that the longer that they sit around ... the longer that those zombies walk around … the more decomposed and disgusting the eyes get," said Nicotero. "But at the beginning, the eyes look a bit more like just hemorrhaging and sort of cataract and that's what the eyes in the beginning of the 'Fear the Walking Dead' look like."
You can read more on how the look of the zombies on "Fear the Walking Dead" differ from "The Walking Dead" here in our interview with Greg Nicotero.