By Charly SHELTON

In every zombie movie or TV show, it always starts with walkers slowly ambling toward the destination where the rest of the story will take place. For “The Walking Dead,” it’s Atlanta, Georgia. For Universal Studios Hollywood, it’s the Westminster British Street Set in the upper lot of the theme park.

Last week, USH held auditions to gather walkers for the new “The Walking Dead” year-round attraction coming this summer. Building on the popularity of the Halloween Horror Nights walk-through attractions of the last several years, this new, permanent walk-through attraction will feature many fan favorite walkers and locations from throughout the series.

“I want to scare some people. I don’t know about you, but I want to scare people in makeup every day,” said Laura Stinar, who recently moved out to Hollywood from Michigan and is excited at the chance to be a walker.
“I really enjoy scaring people, I love it,” said Ernesto Gonzalez, zombie hopeful from South Bay. With a background in makeup effects, Gonzales said that being a zombie year-round would be perfect for him.
The open casting call attracted people from all walks of life, of all eligible ages and from all around L.A. Anxious walkers-to-be lined up outside the Globe Theater and then were taken in, group by group, to strut their stuff for a panel of USH execs who will be making the decision on who is cast.

Activities in the casting call included general ambling as a mass horde of zombies as well as an exercise called “Scare the Chair,” in which each walker had to make their way to a chair in the center of the room, perform their scare and shuffle away, all without ever coming into contact with the chair, symbolizing the guest.

Those who are cast from this audition will begin training as zombies in advance of the attraction opening on July 4.