Isle of the Dead – keep your friends close and your enemies closer

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan were unable to attend the final Comic Con panel for The Walking Dead. But, they had an excellent reason as filming has begun for their spinoff series Isle of the Dead. 

Fans were disappointed to see Morgan and Cohan’s name missing from the Hall H panel lineup until they found out why. The same week Comic Con was held, Isle of the Dead began filming in New Jersey. This was exciting news for the fandom as the spinoff series are what will carry TWDU once the flagship series is over.

Isle of the Dead will take the unlikely pair of Negan and Maggie to Manhattan on an undisclosed mission. Viewers know the story; Maggie hates Negan for the brutal killing of her husband Glenn (Steven Yuen). She returned to the community hell-bent on killing Negan, something that consumed her during the first part of season 11. During this season, she had to face two realities; she is more like Negan than she would ever want to admit, and two, Negan truly has changed. She may never forgive or forget what he did, but she has begun to trust him.

The pair sent their greetings to Hall H via video, explaining their absence.

Isle of the Dead spinoff series

The message seemed a bit confusing, but they seem to say we will learn what takes them on their mission during the final episodes of The Walking Dead. It has never been clear whether the separate journeys will be explained in the last episodes or the individual spinoffs.

The pairing of Negan and Maggie seemed quite odd to members of the fandom, but the comment about keeping your friends close and enemies closer sheds some light on why these two are teaming up. Perhaps it is out of necessity and not out of the two becoming pals. It will be exciting to see what takes them to New York as Isle of the Dead is set in Manhattan.

According to the press release for the series:

"The character travel into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror."

Isle of the Dead was created by Scott Gimple and  Eli Jorné, the showrunner, and is set to premiere in 2023.

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