The main Walking Dead show may be over but the franchise has just begun. AMC just revealed its release schedule for the rest of the series’ spin-offs, including three previously announced ones following Negan and Maggie, Daryl, and Rick and Michonne.
It’ll all kick off on May 14 for the eighth and final — yes, final — season of Fear the Walking Dead. Much like The Walking Dead, the final season of Fear will be broken into two halves, with six episodes in May/June, then the final six later in the year. In between, the spinoffs begin. First up is Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) The Walking Dead: Dead City, which debuts in June. It’ll be followed by Norman Reedus’ The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon later in 2023; then the highly anticipated (and still untitled) Rick and Michonne show, starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, will debut in 2024.
“It’s a truly exciting year for The Walking Dead Universe, as we conclude an epic journey on Fear the Walking Dead, which became one of the most successful shows in the history of cable television,” Dan McDermott, present of AMC Studios and AMC Networks entertainment said in a press release. “And now we are set to bring forth the next iteration of the franchise — two new and anticipated series featuring the beloved characters of Maggie, Negan, and Daryl. Along with that, we begin production on the next chapter in Rick and Michonne’s unforgettable love story, which we look forward to sharing next year. This next phase of our beloved Walking Dead franchise promises to engage and enthrall faithful viewers. Fans new and old will love seeing zombies walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, beneath the Eiffel Tower, inside the Louvre, and at dozens more exotic and iconic locations from around the country and world.”
The locations McDermott refers to reference the specific shows. Dead City with Maggie and Negan will take place in New York City, and Daryl Dixon will take place in Paris. While New York is much more plausible, being on the same continent as the original shows, how and why Daryl ends up in France will be a huge part of his show. Rick and Michonne’s show is said to focus more on their relationship and what form romance takes in a post-apocalyptic world. “Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before?” asks the press release. “Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?”
And yet, there it is. It’s all just still The Walking Dead, a franchise that peaked — in hype and viewers — eight years ago with its season seven premiere. Since then, viewership and interest have steadily declined (that season seven premiere had over 17 million viewers, while the series finale was just over 2.25 million). It will be very interesting to see if these more focused shows, sticking directly with some of the most popular characters and actors, will reinvigorate interest. Tell us what you think below.