Naman Shrestha
The fourth spin-off and the fifth installment in ‘The Walking Dead‘ franchise, AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is a post-apocalyptic horror drama series that picks up right after the events of ‘The Walking Dead’ series with Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprising their roles as Maggie and Negan respectively. The two join forces and decide to travel into the post-apocalyptic city, which was cut off from the mainland long ago, to search for Maggie’s kidnapped son, Hershel. However, Maggie and Negan must fight off and survive against the dead and denizens who infest the crumbling city and have made it their own world of danger, beauty, anarchy, and terror.
Besides Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the thriller series features a talented ensemble cast comprising Gaius Charles, Željko Ivanek, Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon, Karina Ortiz, and more. The show majorly unfolds in post-apocalyptic New York City, especially the borough of Manhattan, crowded with the walking dead as Maggie and Negan traverse across the borough to complete their mission. So, the ruined NYC is likely to make the viewers curious about the actual filming sites of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City.’
The Walking Dead: Dead City Filming Locations
‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is filmed in New Jersey and New York, particularly in Essex County, Bergen County, Hudson County, Paterson, Plainfield, Great Meadows, Rockaway, Basking Ridge, Warren, Holmdel, Kenilworth, and New York City. Principal photography for the debut season of the zombie series commenced in July 2022, under the working title ‘The Isle of the Dead,’ and wrapped up in October of the same year. Now, without much ado, let’s get a detailed account of all the specific locations that double for the post-apocalyptic NYC in the AMC series!
Essex County, New Jersey
A significant portion of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is taped in Essex County, especially in and around the city of Newark. Several establishments in Newark are redecorated by the production team to represent NYC in ruins. They are the National Newark Building at 744 Broad Street, Newark Symphony Hall at 1020 Broad Street, and Dayton Street Public School at 226 Dayton Street, all in Newark.
Moreover, many exterior shots for the series are lensed in different neighborhoods and streets of the city, including Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, Military Park at 51 Park Place, Commerce Street, Clinton Street, Washington Street, Broad Street, and Academic Street. Besides the city of Newark, the filming unit also sets up camp in other locations across Essex County, such as the tunnels at Pompton Avenue in Cedar Grove, and a few sites in West Orange — the former Essex House, Turtle Back Rock Picnic Area at 142 Walker Road, and Northfield Avenue.
Bergen County, New Jersey
Some important sequences of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ are also lensed in Bergen County, particularly in the borough of Midland Park. For instance, Franklin Avenue & Erie Avenue, Godwin Avenue, and Highland Avenue, all in Midland Park, serve as prominent production locations for the series. In addition, Meadowlands Arena located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex at 50 NJ-120 in East Rutherford, and Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve at 1 Nature Preserve Way in the township of Franklin Lakes are a couple of more filming sites that feature in various scenes.
Hudson County, New Jersey
The filming unit of the Jeffrey Dean Morgan starrer also traveled to different locations across Hudson County to record numerous sequences. In Hoboken, they utilize the premises of Hoboken Terminal, Union Dry Dock at 901 Frank Sinatra Drive, and Shipyard Marina at 1301 Sinatra Drive North for shooting purposes. There are several other sites in the county that feature in the series, including Port Jersey Boulevard in Bayonne, Liberty State Park at 1 Audrey Zapp Drive in Jersey City, Kearny Warehouse at 12 Breiderhoft Road in Kearny, and The Ivy Building at 4710 Park Avenue in Weehawken.
Other Locations in New Jersey
For shooting purposes, the production team of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ also spends some of their time in other locations across New Jersey. As per reports, a couple of locations in the city of Paterson, including The Art Factory at 70 Spruce Street, Modela Furniture at 167 Market Street, and Colt Street, are regular features in the show.
In addition, Cedar Brook Park, Park Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Eighth Street, all in the city of Plainfield, also serve as important filming sites. There are plenty of other sites where the cast and crew members of the post-apocalyptic series set up camp. They are Shades of Death Road in Great Meadows, Settler Ridge Farm in Basking Ridge, Holmdel Motor Inn at 2174 NJ-35 in Holmdel, One Twelve Corp. on Route 22 in Kenilworth, Beach Street in Rockaway, and Mountain Avenue in Warren.
New York City, New York
Since almost the entirety of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is based in a post-apocalyptic New York City, it is highly likely that the production unit of the show sets up camp on location in various neighborhoods and streets of the actual Big Apple. You are likely to spot a number of iconic destinations in the backdrop of a few scenes. Some of them are the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Stonewall Inn, the Rockefeller Center, the High Line, and the World Trade Center.
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