All 8 Upcoming Walking Dead Shows Explained

The Walking Dead TV shows are like zombies – just when you think you’ve seen all of them, more creep up from behind. Here are all 8 projects in the pipeline. Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead took the comic world by storm in 2003, redefining zombie horror for a modern audience with the tale of Rick Grimes and his eclectic band of survivors. A TV adaptation premiered on AMC in 2010, and The Walking Dead suddenly went global on its way to being crowned the most popular series on cable. Broadly adapting Kirkman’s source material (albeit with new additions in character and story), AMC’s The Walking Dead successfully transferred the tension and tone of the comics into the mainstream.

The Walking Dead‘s popularity peaked somewhere around season 7. Since then, viewership (and critical acclaim) has been gradually falling away with each passing season, and while that can be partly attributed to a change of viewing habits, there’s no denying The Walking Dead isn’t the pop culture monster it used to be. It’s strange, then, that AMC is choosing now to turn The Walking Dead into a sprawling multi-platform franchise. As well as new seasons of all 3 current shows, 5 different spinoffs have been confirmed, and there’s also a feature-length movie (plus sequels?) starring Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes still in production.

AMC clearly has ambitious plans for The Walking Dead, and though the first two spinoffs haven’t exactly stormed to greatness, that hasn’t deterred the network from mining the property further. These are the 8 planned The Walking Dead TV shows coming to a zombie apocalypse near you.

The Walking Dead: Origins

The next offering from the Walking Dead world comes in the form of The Walking Dead: Origins which, as you might expect, delves into the backstories of existing characters. Beginning on July 15th, 2021, The Walking Dead: Origins is a limited series from current showrunner Angela Kang, and will run for 4 episodes as an AMC+ streaming exclusive. Each installment will focus on a single character, the lucky quartet consisting of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride). According to the official description, The Walking Dead: Origins will recount the zombie apocalypse from the perspective of a one character, incorporating actor interviews and narration into each episode.

Beyond recycled clips from past seasons and behind-the-scenes material, it’s not clear how much The Walking Dead: Origins will add to what fans already know about each of these popular characters, but the new show could work as a refresher for…

The Walking Dead Season 11

The final season of the main series, The Walking Dead season 11 will premiere August 22, 2021. Beginning with “Acheron: Part 1,” The Walking Dead‘s concluding run will span 24 episodes and follow two main storylines. On one hand, there’s the Commonwealth. Eugene’s group encountered this sophisticated community toward the end of The Walking Dead season 10, ambushed in a train yard and held at gunpoint by soldiers clad in white armor. The Commonwealth will take Eugeue and his friends back to the main settlement, where Yumiko will be reunited with a long lost relative (if hints in the recent teaser are anything to go by). The Commonwealth will present The Walking Dead‘s heroes with a different kind of challenge. The community is a far cry from the outright evil of the Saviors or Whisperers, but it’s certainly not without major problems. Chief among the new faces is Michael James Shaw as Mercer, the leader of the Commonwealth’s army.

Back home in Alexandria, Maggie and Negan will continue their feud upon the backdrop of the Reapers – a new villain group introduced in the supplementary episodes between The Walking Dead seasons 10 & 11. These enemies haven’t revealed themselves properly yet, but their sights are honed squarely on Maggie, and Pope’s followers have proven themselves formidable thus far. Of course, The Walking Dead‘s final season will also be required to wrap up the entire show in a satisfying manner and, with Rick and Carl Grimes both gone, that won’t happen like it does in the comics. The finale could be more about setting up the future than resolving the past.

Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2

The Walking Dead‘s second spinoff, World Beyond, premiered in 2020 to a lukewarm response. Despite pulling the trigger on the long-awaited CRM (Civic Republic Military) storyline, there’s an overriding sense that zombies are an afterthought in this corner of the franchise, where the focus rests largely upon the teenage leads and their chaperones. The Walking Dead: World Beyond certainly feels distinct from the other shows, and season 1 ended with the CRM taking Hope away to continue her father’s undead research. A 10-episode second season is slated to release in late 2021 and has already been confirmed as the the final run. Fans can expect to gain an even deeper insight into mysterious multi-show villains the CRM, potentially discovering what the Civic Republic’s scientists are trying to achieve and why they’re resorting to such extreme measures.

Fear The Walking Dead Season 7

Debuting in 2015, Fear The Walking Dead chronicled the earliest days of the outbreak through the Clark family’s perspective. Over the course of 4 seasons, the spinoff slowly caught up to the main show, but then fell behind once again after Lennie James’ Morgan hopped the franchise fence. Fear The Walking Dead season 6 ended with a nuclear explosion enveloping the main cast, and while most of the protagonists managed to find shelter, the dirty blast has littered the landscape with radiation. Season 7 will find the likes of Morgan, Grace, June, John Dorie Sr., Alicia and Victor Strand adjusting to a world where the dead aren’t the only danger. Season 6’s finale also reintroduced the CRM into Fear The Walking Dead, with Daniel’s group whisked off into the unknown via helicopter. This could be setting up a crossover of some kind (either with Rick’s movie, World Beyond, or the main series), and will add even more lore behind this enigmatic civilization.

Fear The Walking Dead season 7 is confirmed to air before 2021 is done and will consist of 16 episodes, but while The Walking Dead and World Beyond are both coming to an end, the original zombie spinoff looks set to continue into the future. Though an eighth season hasn’t been confirmed officially, Ian Goldberg told Insider that Fear The Walking Dead season 7 is not bringing the series to a close, suggesting the spinoff could outlive its predecessor. Given Fear The Walking Dead‘s recent uptick in quality, that may be no bad thing.

Daryl & Carol Spinoff

Alongside the announcement of The Walking Dead‘s ending came confirmation of a brand new show starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride as Daryl and Carol. Forecast for 2023, little else is known about spinoff #3, but it seems the famously reclusive pair will break away from The Walking Dead‘s main group of survivors. Daryl has suggested running away before to Carol; the spinoff’s existence might prove they finally bite the bullet. Alternatively, The Walking Dead season 11 could kill off everyone but Daryl and Carol, leaving the pair will little other choice. The Walking Dead season 10’s “Find Me” served as a backdoor pilot to Daryl and Carol’s own show and wasn’t entirely well-received by fans. Both characters are introverts who struggle to express their feelings, which means long stretches of silence and grunting in between the zombie action. While this made for compelling viewing as part of a larger series, whether their relationship can carry an entire show remains to be seen.

Tales Of The Walking Dead

As the name suggests, Tales of the Walking Dead will act as an anthology series, telling one-off isolated stories from across the franchise. The key selling point here is the prospect of departed actors returning, since there’s no restriction on where each episode can sit in the timeline. Announced back in September 2020, there’s no word yet on when the spinoff will arrive, nor which tales will be covered, though the plane crash from Walking Dead: World Beyond has been suggested as a potential topic. Characters who might make for good subjects include Steve Yeun (Glenn), Kim Dickens (Madison), Chad Coleman (Tyrese) and Jon Bernthal (Shane).

Dead In The Water

Back in March 2021, rumors of a watery new Walking Dead project emerged. Titled Dead In The Water, this digital exclusive takes the undead underwater, set during an outbreak on a nuclear submarine. Connecting directly to Fear The Walking Dead, said submarine recently appeared in season 6 as part of Teddy’s dastardly plan to bring about the “end times” using the sub’s nuclear-loaded missiles. Though fans already know the USS Pennsylvania ends up beached and commandeered by a cult leader, Dead In The Water will explain how it got there and what happened to all the dead crew members discovered by Morgan and Strand. Though there’s no official release date at present, a script has been completed. In terms of cast, you’d expect Nick Stahl to return as Riley, since Teddy’s second-in-command was originally the vessel’s weapons officer.

Comedy Spinoff

By far the most unlikely Walking Dead project currently in production is a comedy series. In December 2020, Scott M. Gimple (who currently oversees all the franchise goings-on) confirmed moves were being made toward a “straight Walking Dead comedy.” Gimple promised the project would serve to spotlight lighter moments of the zombie outbreak, rather than parody the franchise, but since plodding through forests and stabbing corpses in the face is hardly laugh-a-minute stuff, this one left many a Walking Dead fan scratching their heads.

About The Author

Craig Elvy
(3624 Articles Published)

Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig’s interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.
Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS.

Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer.
Jim Carrey is Craig’s top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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