A new spin-off for The Walking Dead television series was just confirmed for a 2022 release that will serve as an anthology series. The Walking Dead will be concluding next year with its final season and episode after a very long run, with its first episode airing in 2010.
The Walking Dead has been going on for more than a decade and has attracted numerous amounts of viewers amid the manic zombie phase of cinema. Since then it has become one of the most successful shows on television despite having a fluctuating viewer count. The Walking Dead is a live-action loose adaptation of the graphic novel series of the same name. It did a great job at painting a post-apocalyptic world where zombies (or walkers) were the main threat, but it also showed that humans who survive a world like this often lose their humanity along the way. The series has shown all aspects of the darkest human psyches.
The newly announced spin-off series will be called Tales of the Walking Dead and consists of hour-long episodes. Production on the six-episode first season will begin next year. AMC Studios President of Original Programming Dan McDermott says, "The Walking Dead is a show that made television history and attracted an army of passionate and highly engaged fans...We see so much potential for a wide range of rich and compelling storytelling in this world, and the episodic anthology format of Tales of the Walking Dead will give us the flexibility to entertain existing fans and also offer an entry point for new viewers, especially on streaming platforms." So even though The Walking Dead is technically ending, the showrunners are still continuing the franchise with episodic stories centered on new and existing characters.
The anthology series will have The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead writer/producer Channing Powel on board as showrunner. Scott M. Gimple, who is the CCO of The Walking Dead series and has worked very closely with the show, said, "This series, more than any other in The Walking Dead Universe, runs on new voices, perspectives, and ideas - bringing to life stories unlike any we’ve told before... I’m thrilled to be Channing’s consigliere, helping in every way I can to make those new visions real for the best fans." The anthology series is only the latest Walking Dead spin-off, joining Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, a developing Carol and Daryl show, and a Rick Grimes movie.
This anthology will serve as a way to allow the mainline series to end while also being able to explore more of the Walking Dead world. The original show has teased other parts of the world that are dealing with the walker outbreak in their own way, so for the most part, it's been up to the fans to fill in the blanks by using their imagination. With spin-off series like this and the recent Fear the Walking Dead, fans have gotten a different perspective and point of view of the franchise's world.
Some fans feel the opposite, wanting to see the series end due to how it diverted from the source material and feeling it has gone on longer than anticipated. Some people like the idea of things having a finite ending, while others truly appreciate things that continue. Whatever route they pick with the series or spin-offs moving forward, hopefully, it's the best decision for the fans.
Tales of the Walking Dead is scheduled to premiere in summer 2022.
Source: AMC