“The Walking Dead” has an end date.
AMC announced Wednesday morning the zombie series will take its last bite following its 11th season, which will span two years, meaning “The Walking Dead” will end its run sometime in late 2022. The series returns to finish its 10th season next month, which added six more episodes to make up for its COVID-19 shortened run last spring.
Additionally, AMC is developing two more spinoffs set in the “Walking Dead” world. The first will star Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride as their characters, Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier, who have been on the series since its debut. That is scheduled to debut in 2023 and will be run by current “The Walking Dead” showrunner Angela Kang.
AMC is also working with Scott Gimple, chief content officer of “The Walking Dead” universe, to develop a new “Tales of the Walking Dead” series, an episodic anthology with individual episodes or arcs of episodes focused on new or existing characters, backstories or other stand-alone experiences. The company, working closely with Gimple, is also developing a number of other new and innovative projects grounded in “The Walking Dead” universe.
“It’s been ten years ‘gone bye;’ what lies ahead are two more to come and stories and stories to tell beyond that,” said Gimple. “What’s clear is that this show has been about the living, made by a passionate cast, team of writer/producers, producers, and crew, bringing to life the vision put forth by Robert Kirkman in his brilliant comic — and supported by the best fans in the world. We have a lot of thrilling story left to tell on TWD, and then, this end will be a beginning of more Walking Dead — brand new stories and characters, familiar faces and places, new voices, and new mythologies. This will be a grand finale that will lead to new premieres. Evolution is upon us. ‘The Walking Dead’ lives.”
“The Walking Dead” first premiered in 2010 and ranks as the highest-rated scripted series in cable TV history.
The aging series has its ratings erode over the past few years, with viewership numbers continuing to decline each season. However, despite the downward trend — which is more or less in line with across-the-board cable ratings declines in recent years — the once-massively popular zombie drama remains the most-watched non-sports program on cable.
Along with “Fear the Walking Dead,” which will also return for its sixth season in October, AMC will debut a third “Walking Dead” series — “World Beyond” this fall (though that series is only eyeing a two-season run). The burgeoning franchise is also heading to the big screen with Andrew Lincoln reprising his Rick Grimes role in a movie, with Universal on board to give it a theatrical run.
“‘The Walking Dead’ made television history, and is one of those rare creative works that has given life to an entire content universe that is still in the early stages of growing and entertaining both new and established fans,” said Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks. “We can’t wait to bring viewers this expanded final season of ‘The Walking Dead’ over the next two years, and launch the fourth series in the history of the franchise, focused on the beloved Daryl and Carol characters, with the incredibly talented Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Angela Kang and Scott M. Gimple. There really is so much ‘walking’ ahead, in a number of very exciting directions, for this extraordinary creative universe we call ‘The Walking Dead.’”