'The Walking Dead' season 7 news, spoilers: Production went to 'significant lengths' to keep from spoiling S7 premiere

Only a matter of weeks stand between fans of "The Walking Dead" and the AMC show's highly anticipated season 7 premiere, and yet no one has managed to leak a convincing spoiler regarding the identity of Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) victim in the season opener.

This is because the cast and crew of "The Walking Dead" have reportedly gone to great lengths to ensure that the secret stays a secret until season 7 debuts.

"We've gone to pretty significant lengths," the show's executive producer, Greg Nicotero, said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. "That scene was shot on the backlot, because we didn't want it to be shot out in public where people can climb trees, or for telephoto lenses, to capture something. It's unfortunate, because those people, their job is to ruin the show, and our job is to preserve the experience of the show, " he added.

Nicotero added that a lot of energy and effort go into trying to preserve the experience of watching the popular zombie apocalypse series, which is unfortunate but only reflects the current spoiler-obsessed state of the entertainment industry.

Earlier this year, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the "Walking Dead" production team filmed 11 different death scenes to keep the identity of the so-called Lucille victim in the season 6 finale tightly under wraps.

As the outlet explained, it was hoped that the multiple bogus death scenes would keep curious fans guessing about what will actually occur in the season 7 premiere. The various death scenes may have also been useful in terms of giving the producers choices when they eventually make the final decision as to who gets killed off by Negan and Lucille.

THR also reported that "The Walking Dead" fans had taken to snooping around the filming locations of the show to try and get some inside info that they could then share on social media.

"The Walking Dead" executive producer Scott M. Gimple spoke to THR about the use of drones near the show's Atlanta sets and the potential dangers the devices pose.

"With the advent of drones, it can become such a game of cat and mouse," he said, and added, "[W]e want to just keep our actors safe and the people who might be looking safe."

"The Walking Dead" season 7 premieres Sunday, Oct. 23, at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.