[Haunts] Universal Hollywood and Orlando Bring The Walking Dead Back...Again.

Well, despite earlier rumors that The Walking Dead might not be coming back (which may have been an April Fools prank), it has been confirmed this morning that The Walking Dead will be back for the 2014 Halloween Horror Nights event at both Universal Hollywood and Orlando. USA Today made the announcement this morning at about 3am EST, confirming that AMC's juggernaut of a series would be returning.

I'm not entirely sure that this is the best move in the world by Universal. Personally, I was over the idea last year. Especially since Universal Orlando went overkill and devoted every scare zone in the park to the show. Three years in a row and it's starting to look like HHN has run out of ideas here.

Anyway, here's the announcement video that Universal put up on YouTube, featuring The Walking Dead's Executive Producer, Greg Nicotero.


This, the show's third straight year being featured will focus on events of the 4th season. So, if you haven't been paying attention, none of it will make a lick of difference to you in that regard. That said some interesting info has come out regarding the Universal Orlando implementation.

One of the TWD "scare zones" from HHN 23 at UOR

According to Mike Aiello, Universal Orlando's Creative Director, it will be the largest maze ever constructed for Halloween Horror Nights Orlando. Nearly double the size of any maze that has been built in the past and will feature both a prison and country club setting.

"We have an uber maze and more," says Aiello. "We really had to examine -- How are going this like we have never done it before? And we have."

 Out at Universal Hollywood, it appears that the a similar set up to last year will be returning. The Universal Back Lot will once again host a scare zone, maze and of course the Terror Tram will once again be themed for the show as well.

"The Walking Dead is a once in a lifetime horror property," says John Murdy, creative director of Universal Studios Hollywood. "It transcends the typical boundaries of traditional movies or television shows. It appeals to everyone. The show keeps zombies in the zeitgeist of American pop culture."

And there ya have it, once again TWD will be returning to the park for this year's event and I can't say that I'm personally happy about it. Oddly enough, just over the weekend I was talking with Carrie and Alex about the subject and we all agreed that it was time to move on. It would appear that Universal had other plans, much to our chagrin as we weren't overly impressed with it last year either.

However, reusing themes is nothing really that new to Universal Orlando's HHN. So one quote doesn't make much sense. Either Aiello was misquoted or misspoke, but he did say this as well, "I'll put it into context -- we have never brought back any property for Horror Nights. But this is the third year for Walking Dead," says Aiello. "It's huge."

Yeah, that's happened a lot before and many with Aiello himself as HHN Creative Director at that. Let's look at all the repeated properties that have hit Universal Orlando alone over the past 24 years, shall we?

• Dungeon of Terror (Fright Nights/HHN 1/HHN 4/HHN 5/HHN 16)
• People Under the Stairs (HHN 2/HHN 3/HHN 16)
• Psycopath Maze (HHN 2/HHN 3/HHN 4/ HHN 16)
• Jack (HHN 10/HHN 11/HHN 16/HHN 17)
• Scary Tales (HHN 11/HHN 12/HHN 18/HHN 20)
• Scream House (HHN 12/HHN 13/HHN 16)
• All Night Die-In (HHN 13/HHN 16)
• PsychoScareapy (HHN 16/HHN 17/HHN 20)
• Havok (HHN 20/HHN 23)
• The Walking Dead (HHN 22/HHN 23/HHN 24)

*info from HorrorNightNightmares.com

Not sure what he was talking about as Universal has used several things repeatedly over the years and many have been done three times or more. Usually they've upgraded them and putting a new spin on their stories, but they have been reused often.

Stay tuned as Halloween Horror Nights announcement season continues throughout the summer as there's bound to be much, much more to come!