The Walking Dead fans got a new treat Tuesday morning when AMC Networks announced that it has officially launched a new AMC Studios-produced series titled Tales of the Walking Dead. The Walking Dead spinoff, stemming from the TWD franchise which has been going for more than ten years now, will be an anthology-style series with one-hour standalone episodes featuring new and established characters set in the world of the original zombie show.
Tales of the Walking Dead will open doors for familiar faces to return before or after their time on the show, which should make fans happy. Who wouldn’t want to see Glenn (Steven Yuen) come back for another episode?
Channing Powell, writer and produce for The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, will serve as showrunner for The Walking Dead spinoff anthology series. According to AMC Network, Powell will work closely with Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer of the Walking Dead Universe.
The Walking Dead spinoff will initially have 6 episodes which are expected to go into production in early 2022. Tales of the Walking Dead will premiere on AMC Plus and AMC next summer.
“The Walking Dead is a show that made television history and attracted an army of passionate and highly engaged fans,” said Dan McDermott, president of original programming for AMC Networks and AMC Studios. “We see so much potential for a wide range of rich and compelling storytelling in this world, and the episodic anthology format of Tales of the Walking Dead will give us the flexibility to entertain existing fans and also offer an entry point for new viewers, especially on streaming platforms. We have seen the appeal of this format in television classics like The Twilight Zoneand, more recently, Black Mirror, and are excited to engage with fans in this new way, against the backdrop of this very unique and engrossing world.”
Gimple also weighed in on The Walking Dead spinoff. “This series, more than any other in the Walking Dead Universe, runs on new voices, perspectives, and ideas — bringing to life stories unlike any we’ve told before,” Gimple said. “I’m thrilled to be Channing’s consigliere, helping in every way I can to make those new visions real for the best fans in TV.”
Powell wrote 17 episodes of The Walking Dead starting with season 4 and has since also wrote two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead. “I started as a fan of The Walking Dead and have ended up as a showrunner of what will hopefully be one of its most unique spin-offs,” Powell said. “That’s nuts and I’m so grateful to AMC and Scott for supporting me and my writers while we pushed, pulled and poked at the boundaries of this universe to bring you something new and unexpected, while hopefully still tending to what core audiences loved so much about the flagship show.”
The flagship show is now in its eleventh and final season which consists of three parts with each part having 8 episodes. The Walking Dead Final Season Part 1 just ended and will return with part 2 on February 20, 2022 with the next 8 episodes. The Walking Dead spinoff is expected to premiere summer of 2022.
