Event Recap: "The Walking Dead" 100th Episode Premiere at The Greek Theater

The AMC hit TV show “The Walking Dead” has been gracing the screens of countless fans for almost 7 years. Last month, the show premiered Season 8 and celebrated their 100th episode in epic style at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. AMC ran a contest for super fans for a chance to attend the Season 8 premiere as well as to be a part of the live taping of “Talking Dead” after the episode. An amazing friend of mine won and asked me to be their guest!

As huge fans of the show, we were determined to be in line early, as the seating was on a first come first serve basis. Door didn’t officially open till 3:30pm and we arrived at 11am… unfortunately, that was not early enough. By the time we had reached the back of the line, there had to be at least 100-200 people already waiting. I heard people got in line as early as 6am that morning, which we should have seriously thought about considering how hardcore some “Walking Dead” fans are (talking from experience). Eventually, the line got so long that it started extending into the hiking trails that are in the same vicinity as the venue. I will say that considering all the years AMC has done similar events and knowing how passionate their fans are, they can’t seem to get their pre-event lines well organized.

After waiting in line for about 4 hours, AMC/The Greek Theater was finally condensing the lines and passing people through security. As per usual AMC fashion, they love to feature their fans on commercials and the like, so they had camera crews going through the crowds and telling us to get excited. Mind you, it had been a 90+ degree weather day, yet people still seemed to have energy to share their love for the show. The AMC crew spotted our group because we were all in “Walking Dead” cosplay and asked us to say several things to the camera. Half of us knew the drill as we had been filmed quite a few times by AMC at previous events (humble brag).

Once inside, we were greeted by an epicly humongous ALL OUT WAR poster. They also had intricately carved “Walking Dead” pumpkins, “DON’T OPEN, DEAD INSIDE” prop door with zombie hands coming out, as well as Official Merch booths featuring “100th Episode at The Greek” tees. Farther down the entrance, IronE Singleton (AKA “T-Dog” from the early half of “The Walking Dead”) was interviewing fans for the livestream they had on social media.

After all the excitement outside, we finally headed up to the theater seating area. Luckily enough, we actually got great seats right in the center of the theater. They had three huge screens playing some of their “Walking Dead” promos as well as some footage from San Diego Comic-Con where my friends and I were featured in (it’s so awkward to see your goofy face on three huge screens). Shortly after that, the 100th episode started. It was great to watch the season premiere with a theater full of big “Walking Dead” fans. We all clapped, cheered and laughed together as the episode went on. Then when the show ended, we got briefed by the “Talking Dead” crew as to when to cheer and when to stay quiet throughout the live taping. This special episode of the “Talking Dead” was 2-hours long and featured all current and some past members of the show. During the whole taping, we made sure to give our favorite actors love by cheering for them. In between commercial breaks, the actors would leave their seats and take pictures with some of the fans that would come up to the stage. Then they would comically run back to their places as the show started up again. It was a fun and interesting experience as a whole.

I am so happy I got to experience this with my friends as well as all the other “Walking Dead” fans that were there that night. AMC emphasizes how important their fans are and keeps one upping their previous events. If you ever get a chance to do an AMC sponsored event, go early and have a good time.