‘Walking Dead’ to End With Expanded Season 11, Daryl-Carol Spinoff Series Set at AMC
“The Walking Dead” will end after the upcoming Season 11 on AMC, with the network also ordering a spinoff series built around the characters Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier, Variety has learned.
Season 11 of AMC’s flagship show, which was originally meant to air this year but was delayed due to the pandemic, will air over two years and consist of 24 episodes in total beginning in late 2021. It was previously announced six additional episodes that will be considered part of Season 10 will be shot and aired in early 2021, meaning 30 additional episodes of “The Walking Dead” remain to be filmed and aired through late 2022. The episode originally intended to be the Season 10 finale is set to air on Oct. 4 after being delayed in April, also due to the pandemic.
The untitled Daryl-Carol spinoff will see “The Walking Dead” stars and fan favorites Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride continue on in those roles. The pair have long been praised for their characters’ onscreen chemistry, with Reedus and McBride currently being the only two cast members of the flagship show who have been onboard since Season 1.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the show is co-created by “The Walking Dead” showrunner Angela Kang and Scott Gimple, former series showrunner and the chief content officer of “The Walking Dead” universe. Kang will also serve as showrunner on the spinoff. The series is slated to debut in 2023.
“I look forward to digging in with our brilliant writers, producers, directors, cast and crew to bring this epic final chapter of Robert Kirkman’s story to life for our fans over the next two years,” said Kang. “‘The Walking Dead’ flagship series has been my creative home for a decade and so it’s bittersweet to bring it to an end, but I could not be more excited to be working with Scott Gimple and AMC to develop a new series for Daryl and Carol. Working with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride has been a highlight of my career and I’m thrilled that we get to keep telling stories together.”
In addition, Gimple is also developing an episodic anthology series currently titled “Tales of the Walking Dead.” The show will feature one-off episodes built around new and existing characters within the “The Walking Dead” universe.
In addition to “The Walking Dead,” AMC also has the companion series “Fear the Walking Dead,” which is set to begin airing its sixth season on Oct. 11. “The Walking Dead: World Beyond,” about the first generation to come of age during the zombie apocalypse, will have its series premiere immediately after “The Walking Dead” on Oct. 4. AMC also continues to air the aftershow “Talking Dead” hosted by Chris Hardwick. AMC and Universal Pictures are currently working on a series of feature films centered on Rick Grimes starring Andrew Lincoln, with Lincoln having played the character for over nine seasons on “The Walking Dead.”
“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” is produced by AMC Studios and executive produced by Gimple, Kang, Kirkman, David Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, Denise Huth, and Joseph Incaprera.
“‘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.’”
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