AMC's 'The Walking Dead' to feature former NFL star Hines Ward

Former NFL star Hines Ward will appear as a zombie on AMC’s midseason premiere of “The Walking Dead” on Feb. 10, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Sunday.

Ward, who retired from the Pittsburgh Steelers following the 2011 season, is currently a sports commentator for NBC.

Ward got the role on the hit cable TV show when IronE Singleton, a former college teammate at Georgia and now-departed star of the show, lined him up for the part.

Singleton is probably better known to fans of the show as T-Dog.

“It was an amazing experience,” Ward told the Post-Gazette. “Just being in makeup preparing me for my role was cool. I actually scared myself when I looked in the mirror for the first time after.”

Ward’s 14-year NFL career—spent entirely with the Steelers—started in 1998. He was the member of two Super Bowl championship teams (2006, 2010) and was the MVP of Super Bowl XL.

Ward tallied 1,000 receptions in his pro career, accounting for 12,083 receiving yards and 86 touchdowns.

“The Walking Dead,” currently in its third season, is the top-viewed cable series, as far as overall viewers go.

Personal Take

If you’ve ever watched “The Walking Dead,” you know that most zombies don’t get much screen time and are largely unrecognizable.

Whether Ward will get to be onscreen for more than a second or two is yet to be seen, but, thanks to the still photo above, viewers now know what to look for.

As far as recognizable “The Walking Dead” zombies go, the show seems to have had only one, though it is difficult to verify.

In the series’ pilot episode, a zombie on a public bus follows Rick as he rides horseback into the city. The zombie, which received a lot of screen time by zombie standards, bore a striking resemblance to Grima Wormtongue from “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”

Whether it was Wormtongue or not is open for debate, but what’s not open for debate is the fact that “The Walking Dead” will live on for at least another season—much to the joy of its loyal viewers.

“The Walking Dead” returns Feb. 10 and airs on AMC at 7 p.m. in Provo.