The Walking Dead series finale will complete the story rather than set up spin-offs
"We didn't want the spin-offs to get in the way of that satisfaction"
The Walking Dead may be coming to an end as season 11 wraps up later this year, but there are still plenty of zombie-filled spin-offs on the way. However, according to the show's bosses, the original series' finale will have its focus solely on completing that particular story rather than setting up any new adventures.
"The finale is about completing The Walking Dead story, not setting up spinoffs," Scott Gimple, The Walking Dead Universe chief content officer, said at SDCC 2022. "There's room for those spin-offs, but full-on, The Walking Dead finale concludes the story of this 11 years. We didn't want the spin-offs to get in the way of that satisfaction. They live together, I think, very nicely."
"I think that's right. I think the goal is that, even if there were no spin-offs, it would feel like there is a closure to the show itself," showrunner Angela Kang added. "The show itself needs its own ending. But doors are left open, as they so often are in life, and as they were even in the ending of the comic. There's always a story that's continuing once the story that you tell on screen has ended, so that's the spirit."
Three spin-offs have been set for 2023 – two untitled series, one about Daryl (Norman Reedus) and another about Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Isle of the Dead about Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Regan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). An anthology series, Tales of the Walking Dead, featuring origin stories of new and existing characters, is also set to premiere next month.
The final installment of The Walking Dead season 11 begins airing on October 2. In the meantime, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming our way in 2022 and beyond.
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I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.