The Walking Dead, as we know it, is coming to an end.
The sad news was announced in September 2020, but we still have eight episodes of The Walking Dead Season 11 to air (beginning October 2 at 9 p.m. on AMC).
Thankfully, the franchise is more alive than ever, and plenty of spinoffs are on the way.
Scroll down to find out the status of these new series that will usher in the next generation of The Walking Dead.
Tales of the Walking Dead – Premieres August August 14
Have you ever wondered what an episodic anthology would look like with a zombie apocalypse backdrop?
Well, we have good news. Tales of the Walking Dead features a different cast, story, and setting in every episode.
It is described as “six original one-hour standalone episodes focused on both new and established characters within the walker apocalypse.”
“Each episode has its own distinct tone and point of view — but the stakes are high in each story, pushing new, indelible characters with relentless, life-threatening choices and situations,” the logline reads.
“We get to see the apocalypse through different eyes, discovering more worlds, mythos, and mysteries of the Walking Dead.”
Tales of the Walking Dead stars Olivia Munn (The Newsroom, X-Men: Apocalypse, Six), Samantha Morton (The Walking Dead, Harlots), Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), and Parker Posey (Lost In Space).
The cast also includes Anthony Edwards (Inventing Anna, WeCrashed), Poppy Liu (Dead Ringers), Jillian Bell (Rough Night), Loan Chabanol (Fading Gigolo), and Embeth Davidtz (Old, Ray Donovan).
Also starring is Jessie T. Usher (Shaft, The Boys), Daniella Pineda (Cowboy Bebop), and Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), amongst others.
The official trailer dropped at San Diego Comic-Con, and let’s just say there’s a lot to look forward to.
Isle of the Dead – Spring 2023
We’d have laughed in your face if you asked us a year ago whether we thought Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) would be cordial.
However, The Walking Dead Season 11 has found the pair co-existing as they realize there is a common enemy in the Commonwealth.
On a shocking note, AMC pulled the trigger on Isle of the Dead, a Manhattan-set spinoff featuring the pair in March 2022.
The series is “a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland,” according to the network.
“The crumbling city,” AMC adds, “is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty and terror.”
It sounds like a great direction to take the franchise because it means that the pair will have to adapt to a new way of living, possibly by creating smaller communities in big buildings.
The big issue in announcing the series so early is that it confirms the pair survive the final episodes of the series.
And, we’re inclined to believe whatever brings these two together will have to be big if they’re co-existing on their own show.
Unfortunately, Cohan and Morgan did not attend San Diego Comic-Con, but they did share the following video to explain their absence.
.@laurencohan and @JDMorgan had a special message at #TWD’s final #SDCC panel. pic.twitter.com/89MlgUjMxY
— The Walking Dead on AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) July 23, 2022
Joining Cohan and Morgan on this journey is:
Gaius Charles – Perlie Armstrong (Salt, Grey’s Anatomy)
Mahina Napoleon – Ginny (NCIS: Hawai’i)
Željko Ivanek – The Croat (Damages)
Jonathan Higginbotham – Tommaso (Blacklist)
Karina Ortiz – Amaia (Orange Is the New Black)
Caleb Reese Paul – Wesley (FBI, The Other Two)
Daryl Spinoff – Summer 2023
The series was announced at the same time as the final season announcement in 2020, but it was initially set to be a Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) show.
There was a great deal of skepticism that the series would actually see the light of day given that Tales and Isle of the Dead were ordered afterward and are already closer to a premiere date than this one.
Melissa’s departure was announced in 2020.
“Melissa McBride has given life to one of the most interesting, real, human and popular characters in The Walking Dead Universe,” the cabler said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, she is no longer able to participate in the previously announced spin-off focused on the Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier characters, which will be set and filmed in Europe this summer and premiere next year.”
“Relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for Melissa at this time. We know fans will be disappointed by this news, but, The Walking Dead Universe continues to grow and expand in interesting ways and we very much hope to see Carol again in the near future.”
It was a big blow for fans, largely because Carol and Daryl have this bond that translates well on-screen.
In the aftermath, Reedus said that the series would focus on Daryl on a mission to Europe and that some old friends could pop up along the way.
That’s about as much as we know about this one.
Rick & Michonne Spinoff – Fall 2023
Andrew Lincoln departed during The Walking Dead Season 9, with Danai Gurira departing one season later.
AMC ordered a trilogy of movies at the time of Lincoln’s exit, but details remained scarce for almost four years until the pair popped up at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022 to confirm the movies are dead, but they will be back in a new series.
“This series presents an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world,” the official description reads.
“Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living.”
“Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before?”
“Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?”
“This has been the most extraordinary journey playing Rick Grimes for the best part of a decade,” Lincoln said.
“The friendships I’ve made along the way are deep and lasting, so it’s fitting that I finally get to complete the story with Danai and Scott and the rest of the TWD family.”
“I’m so excited to be returning to the screen as Rick, reuniting with Danai as Michonne, and bringing the fans an epic love story to add to the Walking Dead Universe.”
“Michonne and this TWD family has meant so much to me, and to continue the journey of these beloved characters, alongside Scott and Andy, both creatively and in front of the camera, and bringing The Walking Dead fans something truly special is just glorious. I can’t wait to pick up the katana again,” Gurira said.
There we have it, The Walking Dead fans.
Which of the spinoffs are you excited for?
Hit the comments.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
