After 13 years, eleven seasons, and over 1,300 character deaths, The Walking Dead came to an epic conclusion on November 20th. While the flagship show may be over, The Walking Dead universe has expanded with the addition of three planned spin-offs centered around characters who have become beloved to the ride or die fans.
The Walking Dead didn’t let viewers mourn the death of the series for more than a few seconds before announcing a line up of spin-offs slated for release in 2023.
The Walking Dead: Dead City
The Walking Dead: Dead City will be the first to drop in April 2023 on both AMC and the channel’s streamer AMC+. The six episode series will follow former enemies and reluctant allies Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they traverse post-apocalyptic New York City.
Morgan told Deadline that the series “is going to take place a couple of years after the Walking Dead finale,” which is problematic for his reformed character because, “Negan has an opportunity to fall into his old ways in these missing years. He is very much a creature of habit, and he knows how to survive.”
In the finale, Negan finally apologized to Maggie for killing husband Glenn with his beloved baseball bat Lucille, while she watched on while heavily pregnant. Maggie doesn’t accept his apology, but acknowledges that he’s earned his place amongst their group for his recent efforts.
According to Morgan, the hostility between their characters will be present in Dead City. “These characters are going to have a hard time functioning around each other, which is why I wanted to do Dead City so much by the way,” he noted. “I just thought it was fascinating that you got two characters that kind of hate each other, having to find a way to work together.”
Neither actor was pleased that the network announced the spin-off prior to the original series conclusion. Morgan believed the scene in the penultimate episode, where Negan was about to be executed in a similar fashion to how he had murdered so many others would have been much more powerful if the audience didn’t know he was going to survive it.
“I just think that the stakes are raised that much higher, and going into a finale episode, I think the audience if they don’t know that four of your main characters or whatever it is are doing spinoffs, you know, those are four more people that may not walk away from this,” he commented.
“I thought the same thing. I thought when the spinoffs were revealed, it was a little less suspense than I would have liked,” Cohen added.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Next in the lineup will be The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, centered around Norman Reedus’ fan favorite character as he traverses around post-apocalyptic Paris.
Last audiences saw Dixon, he was riding off on his motorcycle into the new frontier to try to locate Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). However, in the first images released of the new show, his ride is a horse drawn carriage, and he seems to be on his knees in front of a hostile group.
How he got to France is a mystery, but Reedus did confirm that it wasn’t at his “own free will.” According to TWD boss Scott M. Gimple, “Daryl is a fish out of water to start with. If Daryl finds himself with new people, he’s a fish out of water. In France, in a country that’s going through the apocalypse, [it’s] an entirely different thing.”
“He finds himself having to reinvent himself again, having to find himself again, and also, not being with — probably — the only people in the world he’s comfortable with.”
The series was originally supposed to co-star Carol (Melisa McBride), but the actress dropped out due to the logistics of filming in Europe and needing a break after filming the original series for twelve straight years.
Reedus hinted that despite McBride opting out of co-headlining the series, doesn’t mean she’s done playing Carol.
“You don’t know she’s not going to show up on the spinoff. I’ll just leave it at that. She’s a very big part of Daryl’s story,” he remarked. “It’s all gonna be OK.”
Untitled Rick And Michonne Series
In a shocking twist in the final sequence of The Walking Dead former series leads Rick Grimes and Michonne were seen writing in a journal about the people they have loved and lost, which is revealed to be the same journal when Rick is captured by the Civic Republic Military, and Michonne, wearing new armor, charges into a herd of walkers.
The untitled six episode series, which is slated for release sometime in 2023, was originally announced at Comic-con over the summer.
Rick, who was thought to be dead by his compatriots after a bridge explosion in Season 9, was supposed to have his own stand-alone film, but Gurira was written off the show in Season 10, by leaving her children behind to go search for their father, who she still believes is alive.
The spin-off will follow the characters “epic love story” as they try to reunite across distance and an unstoppable force that is fighting a war on both the living and the dead.
