The Walking Dead is coming to an end in just a few weeks. Although there are several spin-offs on the horizon, the creative team is keen to ease fans’ fears about the upcoming projects being the centre of attention during the show’s endgame.
According to chief content officer of The Walking Dead universe Scott Gimple, the show’s finale will focus on the "satisfaction" of bringing the zombie drama to a close instead of setting up a new series.
"We were going off the assumption that we were continuing to go for a while, and things change," Gimple told SFX magazine in the new issue, featuring Halloween on the cover, while discussing the decision to bring The Walking Dead to a close.
"I feel that it folded into some plans nicely, it folded into some issues. Because the finale is about completing the Walking Dead story, not setting up spin-offs. There’s room for the spin-offs. But full on, The Walking Dead’s finale concludes the story of this 11 years, and we didn’t want the spin-offs to get in the way of that satisfaction. They live together very nicely."
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Showrunner Angela Kang added, "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. Because the show itself needs its own ending. But you know, doors are left open as they so often are in life."
The Walking Dead will live on in 2023 and beyond. A Rick Grimes and Michonne-centric limited series, with returning actors Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, will air next year. A Norman Reedus-fronted Daryl Dixon show and The Walking Dead: Dead City, a spin-off featuring Lauren Cohan’s Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan heading east to New York City, are also in various stages of development.
The Walking Dead season 11 is currently airing every Sunday on AMC and Mondays in the UK on Disney Plus.
That's just a snippet of SFX's chat with Gimple, Kang, and finale director Greg Nicotero, available in the Halloween Ends issue of SFX Magazine, available on newsstands from Wednesday, October 5. For even more from SFX, sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.
