What 10 more years of The Walking Dead might look like

Another decade of The Walking Dead? According to the head of AMC the network has plans to keep TWD going at least another 10 years.

AMC’s President and CEO Josh Sapan was recently asked a question about the future of The Walking Dead at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference and he said that the network already has a plan in place that includes development of The Walking Dead universe for at least the next ten years, and possibly longer.

That statement might be a surprise to some social media users and online outlets that have been vehemently and frequently saying that the show’s decline in ratings means that the show is dying. Fans who are upset about creative decisions that The Walking Dead has made like the decision to kill off Carl Grimes and about the upcoming departure of series lead Andrew Lincoln have been mournfully declaring the show will be canceled at the end of season 9. But it doesn’t like AMC has any plans to cancel The Walking Dead and they are actively looking at different options to expand The Walking Dead universe. Sapan said:

"“The Walking Dead is a universe…and we have a plan to manage over the next decade, plus. That plan is a careful plan to respect the world of the fans of that world.”"

That doesn’t necessarily mean that The Walking Dead will stay on the air for another ten years in its current form though. AMC and Scott Gimple are said to be looking at many different options for content set within The Walking Dead world including more spinoffs, Web based content, and merging existing worlds the way that they did when Morgan Jones crossed over to Fear The Walking Dead.

Fear The Walking Dead

While so far Fear The Walking Dead is the only spinoff of the original show that may not always be the case. There are lots of other stories to tell of surviving the zombie apocalypse. But the soft reboot that Fear TWD went through at the end of season 3 proved to be a huge success. Bringing in new characters like June and John Dorie and Althea and giving the existing characters expanded roles has helped to push the story in a new direction. Although the deaths of two original characters, Madison Clark and Nick Clark, were controversial they did open the door for the existing characters to expand their roles.

Fear The Walking Dead got a serious upgrade in terms of writing, direction, and overall look and style that fans really like. Some fans even feel like Fear The Walking Dead has become a more enjoyable show than the original. That proves that if they are done well spinoffs can work.

Serial Format

Hopefully as AMC considers new ways to approach The Walking Dead world they will consider a serial format. A serial format is still a relatively new concept for cable TV but Ryan Murphy, who pioneered the format, has had huge success with serial shows like American Horror Story and American Crime Story.

If The Walking Dead switched to a serial format, or if a spinoff were done in a serial format, fans could continue to see the characters and actors that they love but in new worlds and new situations. The actors would have the flexibility to take time off for other projects if they wanted and the new location and storyline of each season would make it easy for new fans to join the show without knowing the history and backstory of each character. A serial format would be a great fit for The Walking Dead world.

Big Changes For The Walking Dead

The news that AMC plans on keeping The Walking Dead alive in some form or another for at least ten years comes just before The Walking Dead season 9 premiere next month when fans will start to say goodbye to Rick Grimes. The original show is reaching the ending of the first leg of its journey by bringing the story of the Grimes family to a close. And with Lauren Cohan set to depart the only original characters remaining on the show will be Carol and Daryl. New characters are coming, there will be a slew of them in Season 9, and most likely many more familiar characters won’t survive the season.

How will all the changes impact the original show? Will fans be able to handle the ending of the Rick Grimes story? Some will drift away, but others will stay and continue the journey to the next world with the characters that they love and the new characters who are coming into the story. There are many different types of survival, and many survival stories to tell in The Walking Dead world and it looks like AMC is committed to telling them for at least another 10 years.