What Lies Ahead premiere written and filmed would begin after the events of Season 1, although a brief flashback scene of Shane and Lori witnessing the fall of Atlanta from a distance would appear during the season. At PaleyFest 2011, it was announced that the second season of "The Walking Dead" would mainly be produced outside the city limits of Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the principal photography for "What Lies Ahead" took place in unincorporated Henry County, Georgia on June 5–9, 2011, using a stretch of Georgia State Route 20 that was closed to traffic for the purpose. On June 8, 2011, the
What Lies Below the van, and carefully rigged it to cave-in upon impact but also make it as painless as possible for Uyeda. To achieve this, they modified the ribs that supported the roof by placing them on pins that would snap, and also added a three-millimeter glass plate that would snap between two sheets of black hard nylon-type plastic to further emphasize the distance she jumped. The first airing of "What Lies Below" was watched by an estimated 6.90 million viewers in the United States, with a 2.6/7 rating for those aged 18–49. SFScope writer Sarah Stegall considered these numbers to be