Ross Marquand thinks The Walking Dead will live long and prosper

With a new spinoff coming to The Walking Dead universe, Ross Marquand sees parallels between the show and another famous franchise.

Star Trek began with a five year mission with Captain James T. Kirk at the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and some fifty years later the Star Trek universe has expanded to feature films, spinoff series, animated series and so much more. All of these new iterations breathe new life into the franchise, and Ross Marquand sees the same thing happening to The Walking Dead.

Marquand was recently in Dubai for the Middle East Film and Comic Con, where he talked with station Heart 107.1 FM about the nature of franchises. Marquand sees a a great deal of staying power for The Walking Dead: “It’s like Star Trek. It will go on for like 30 years, hopefully. That would be great. The fans like it. It’s a universally loved show because it deals with themes that everyone can relate to.”

Does The Walking Dead have the same kind of staying power as Star Trek? It’s certainly possible.

Angela Kang delivered a breath of fresh air to the flagship series, giving The Walking Dead a much-needed refresh in season 9 that provides the show with a bright new future full of possibilities. Fear the Walking Dead is going strong into its fifth season, and now there is another spinoff on the way. Meanwhile The Walking Dead comics continue to thrill readers, and soon there will be movies to add to the franchise’s already impressive resume.

Star Trek’s staying power is a result of a solid concept, likable characters and a fandom that embraces new stories and variations on the original theme. The latest iteration of the show is Star Trek: Discovery, which airs on CBS All Access and stars The Walking Dead alum Sonequa Martin-Green. Discovery’s story is set before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series and so fans are getting to know a younger version of Spock and his father Sarek.

Like Star Trek, there are countless stories that could be told within The Walking Dead universe. Fans are eager to see how other places in the world deal with the walkers and it would be easy enough to set a new series abroad, perhaps in the UK to start and then branch out from there. TWD enjoys a worldwide following, after all, and so the number of stories that can be created from moving the show from place to place, and setting them at different points during the apocalypse, will help to give the show that same longevity.

Even with Star Trek’s staying power, the show was off the air and out of movie theaters for a period of time and is now enjoying a resurgence as a result. It’s possible that The Walking Dead could benefit from taking a break to allow fans to reset and embrace a new series when the time is right.