The Walking Dead: Dead City key points to prepare for the spinoff
By Renee Hansen
The Walking Dead: Dead City will be the first direct spinoff of The Walking Dead series. The bar is already set high because this story will focus on characters established in the main series, so fans already know them well. Dead City will take place approximately two years after the events of The Walking Dead series finale, which means a lot could have changed for the two main characters in this spinoff.
Long-time enemies Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) will team up in Dead City to track down one of Negan’s former underlings, who is known as The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek), who is much more evil than Negan ever was. This man has abducted Maggie’s son Hershel (Logan Kim), and he is tracked to Manhattan.
Additionally, Negan also has another man tracking him down, Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), the marshal of New Babylon, a federation of city-states in Virginia.
Dead City will have a completely different setting than what fans are used to in the wooded setting of the original series. It is pretty exciting to know this show will take viewers on a completely different track.
The Walking Dead: Dead City things to know
- Glenn’s (Steven Yeun) death will always stand between Maggie & Negan. Dead City showrunner told SFX Magazine, “When Glenn was killed, that was hard, obviously, when it’s a beloved character who dies. But to me, the flip side of that was that this universe is going to tell the story of what happens when you lose someone that way. Not just for the person who lost him, but the person who did it.”
This series will deal with the character’s grief, loss, and trauma as they have to come together to help Maggie avoid yet another loss in the form of her son. - Negan’s past will come back to haunt him in this new spinoff and perhaps influence his behaviors. It is unclear who The Croat was to Negan in his former life, but he was likely involved with the Saviors, as where else would Negan have had underlings? Was he the former leader who Negan usurped and now wants revenge? Or was he a Savior who, like Simon (Steven Ogg), tried to overtake Negan and failed?
- Negan’s family is another topic that could influence his behaviors in Dead City. Two years have passed since The Walking Dead finale, and in that time, Negan’s wife Annie (Medina Senghore) would have given birth to their child. What has happened with his family? Morgan stated in an interview, “He’s not with his family, so some s–t has happened.” This will likely influence Negan’s behaviors, especially if something tragic has happened to Annie and the baby.
- Variant walkers or something like that will be introduced in this series. The official trailer for Dead City shows some creepy and fascinating-looking members of the undead. One has super speed, and another seems to be more than one walker melded together. On an island with over one million walkers, could the variants have originated there, and someone has slowly released them onto the mainland?
- Maggie’s mindset will also be something that will influence this story. At the end of The Walking Dead, she tells Negan that while she appreciates him saving her son, she will never get over him brutally killing her husband. She likely believes she will never see him again when he leaves the communities. But her son is kidnapped, and she is forced to partner with Negan; yet again, there is no telling where her mind will go.
The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on AMC on June 18 at 9 p.m. ET and AMC+ three days earlier on Thursday, June 15.
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