Possible timelines for Fear TWD season 6, TWD 1016, World Beyond

2020 is over halfway over – How will Fear TWD, TWD and World Beyond fit?

Once upon a time, 2020 was going to be the year that the TWD Family was to be blessed with 42 episodes of The Walking Dead Universe content. Once novel coronavirus struck, production shut down and everything has been up in the air ever since. We took a look at some possible scenarios for when we might see the Fear TWD season 6A premiere, TWD 1016 and the series premiere of World Beyond.

To be clear, these premiere dates and scenarios are guesses based on all of the available information.

For the sake of this article and for absolute clarity, we’re going to assume that there are eight episodes of Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead season 10 finale and then ten episodes of World Beyond.

A very important caveat is that this number is the maximum number of episodes, which assumes post-production and filming have been completed on all episodes and that they will be ready by the time they air.

Option 1: 19 Weeks of Content Kick Off on August 2

Using Comic-Con at Home as the launchpad, AMC could kick off 19 weeks of content on August 2, the weekend after the event.

Fear the Walking Dead would air eight episodes and finish the season on September 20.

The Walking Dead 1016 could then air on September 27.

World Beyond could either premiere immediately following TWD 1016, or, in the case of 1016 being a supersized episode, it will more likely debut on October 4. The Walking Dead traditionally premieres in early October, so AMC would be sliding the new show into TWD’s spot since season 11 is not ready. The 10-episode first season would end on December 6.

To Summarize:

Fear TWD: Premiere on August 2, Midseason finale on September 20

TWD 1016: September 27

World Beyond: October 4 premiere, season finale on December 6

Option 2: Fear TWD Season 6 Premiere on July 26

The Fear TWD panel at Comic-Con at Home is at 12pm ET on Friday, July 24. What if AMC launches season 6 on July 26, capitalizing on the excitement from the big convention weekend? (That means AMC Premiere subscribers would have access at 9pm ET on July 24, mere hours after the panel) The mid-season finale would be September 13.

This could be a very big play by AMC, which would parlay the excitement of the panel into the premiere by not wasting time debuting the season 6 premiere. It’s not unheard of, as New York Comic-Con, San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon have often been used for premieres and pilot episode screenings. (Case in point, World Beyond was supposed to debut the pilot episode the Friday of WonderCon in April 2020, with the series premiere later that weekend)

By moving the premiere up a week, that means The Walking Dead 1016 could air on September 20.

Assuming World Beyond does not premiere on the same night as TWD 1016, it would premiere on September 27 and then wrap up on November 29, which would be the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.

To Summarize:

Fear TWD: Premiere July 26, midseason finale on September 13

TWD 1016: September 20

World Beyond: Premiere September 27, finale on November 29

Option 3: Split Everything Up

If AMC wants to extend the number of available episodes as long as possible, it could put a few weeks between Fear TWD and TWD 1016.

World Beyond will probably debut on the heels of TWD 1016 to help build the excitement, but AMC might opt to split the freshman show’s ten-episode first season into two halves so that there will be some episodes for the first part of 2021.

At the rate things are going with COVID-19 surges in California (where post-production is done), Georgia (where TWD films) and Texas (where Fear TWD films), it is looking less and less likely that fans will see The Walking Dead season 11 and Fear TWD 6B until later on in 2021.

That said, AMC might want to save a few episodes of both Fear TWD and World Beyond to air in 2021. It’s not the most desirable alternative, but the intent behind it would make sense if that was the case. If they air all 19 available episodes for the rest of 2020, it will be quite a while before fans will see any new content, so it’s a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.

Hopefully the Comic-Con at Home panels will give fans some insight into premiere dates and show schedules over the next few months. It’s going to be rough having to wait until 2021 for more TWD, but as fans we are very fortunate to have new episodes of Fear and World Beyond ahead.