When will The Walking Dead season 10 finale air?

The Walking Dead season 10 finale could air as soon as June, but a lot would have to happen for that to be a possibility. When can fans expect 1016 to air?

After a thrilling tenth season, The Walking Dead was left without a season 10 finale when novel coronavirus shut down the entire world. With shelter in place orders all over the United States, post-production on the finale was brought to a halt. Though there is no way to know for sure when 1016 might air, it is possible to speculate when fans might be able to see the finale.

The original plan was for TWD season 10 to tie into the premiere of World Beyond. Fear the Walking Dead season 6 would then piggyback on the 10-episode first season of World Beyond, which would then place us near the traditional October premiere date for The Walking Dead, which would have been entering season 11. By mid-March, those plans changed drastically with the onset of shelter in place orders across the United States.

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti extended the shelter in place orders in Los Angeles County until May 15. Given this new shelter in place date, post-production crews based in Los Angeles will not be able to start work again until that date at the earliest.

At this point, though, all dates are tentative and nothing is set in stone, with possible return dates constantly changing as the coronavirus continues to impact people all over the world. California’s success at flattening the curve has been due to prevention efforts and experts warn that shelter in place measures could extend well past May into June and even into the summer to prevent a second wave of the disease.

With this in mind, there is no way to gauge how long it will be before The Walking Dead crew will be able to finish the episode. As Greg Nicotero noted, post production work includes sound mixing, visual effects and sound effects.

Though the final work should not take long to complete, everything is based on when work is able to start again, and that could have implications on the timing of the rest of the shows, too.

As of this writing, the earliest possible date for 1016 to be completed would be June, assuming work resumes in mid- to late-May. Should shelter in place orders remain in effect, it will continue to push the season 10 finale’s air date back.

It’s worth noting, too, that neither Fear the Walking Dead nor World Beyond have concrete air dates at this point, because there is work to be done on both shows. Given that AMC specifically said “summer” for Fear, it’s more than likely that the progression will be TWD 1016, Fear TWD and then World Beyond in the fall space that would have been occupied by The Walking Dead season 11.

Though this news is frustrating for The Walking Dead, the silver lining is that there are at least 8 episodes of Fear the Walking Dead and 10 episodes of World Beyond to look forward to this year in addition to the TWD season finale, and anything else would be the proverbial icing on the cake.