Walking Dead
"The Walking Dead" characters Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) helped select a severed head as part of a daring plan in episode 12. It has since been revealed that one of the options available to them was modeled after a particular A-list celebrity. AMC

Sunday night’s episode of “The Walking Dead” Season 6 had plenty of action and high-intensity moments for each member of the core cast. But many may have missed the episode’s bit of A-list star power in the person of “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp.

It’s OK if you didn’t notice the actor’s brief appearance, since it happened very fast and wasn’t exactly a traditional celebrity cameo. Those who want an explanation for his bizarre appearance really should watch Season 6, episode 12, first.

[SPOILER ALERT: The remainder of this article will discuss the latest episode of “The Walking Dead.”]

A big part of the episode hinged on Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) plan to use a decapitated walker head as a lookalike. The hope was to trick the Saviors into thinking their plan to kill the leader of the Hilltop community, Gregory (Xander Berkeley), had worked. In order to find the perfect match, the episode included a brief scene in which the hero looked over three severed heads before picking a winner at the recommendation of Jesus (Tom Payne). As it turns out, one of the visages that didn’t make the cut (pun intended) was modeled after the 52-year-old actor’s famous face. Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross posted a photo of the image in question after producer and special effects artist Greg Nicotero confessed the news to him in an interview.

“One of the heads, I don’t know if I’m going to get in trouble if I say this, was Johnny Depp,” Nicotero told Entertainment Weekly. “I think we had sculpted an emaciated version of the dummy head for something and we used Johnny Depp’s head as a basis just for a clay sculpt.”

Depp’s head can be seen on the far right in the image above. The producer also revealed that the head that Rick ended up going with on the show, the one he punched in the face several times to make it look legit, was actually a mold of his very own noggin. While it is a bit funny, it’s not particularly odd that Nicotero would have a mold of Depp’s face lying around. After all, he was a successful special effects artist before “The Walking Dead” came around, and Mashable notes that he had previously worked with the star on movies like “Public Enemies” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.”

Sadly, the actor has yet to comment on the news that his severed head appeared in the hit zombie drama. Let’s hope that Depp, who got his start in the horror genre, won’t mind the grisly unannounced cameo.

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