AMC's The Walking Dead franchise is now almost four years into its TWD Universe era. By that, I mean that it's been almost four years since we entered the post-Walking Dead era of the franchise, as the original show bowed out back in 2022 while setting up multiple spinoffs to take over from it.
From there, 2023 saw the launch of spinoffs Dead City and Daryl Dixon (along with the conclusion of OG spinoff Fear The Walking Dead) while 2024 brought Rick Grimes and Michonne back for six-episode miniseries The Ones Who Live in order to wrap up their stories. And now, three years on from the commencement of that era, the franchise is fast approaching another crossroads - one in which its future is significantly less clear.
The TWD Universe era is slowly coming to an end without a clear direction
While 2026 will bring new seasons of both ongoing spinoffs, it also presents the franchise with the potential of losing both. On one hand, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will bow out this fall with its fourth and final season. Largely praised as the most original of the TWD offshoots, the Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride-led sequel series has essentially become the face of the Walking Dead Universe because of what it offers - something that is completely different to The Walking Dead in presentation but similar in feel. To say that the franchise will suffer without it is a major understatement.
On the other hand, we have The Walking Dead: Dead City - which is returning for its third season this summer. The future of that show is a little less clear. Although there is no indication that AMC plans on ending the Maggie and Negan-led offshoot, rumors have suggested that the third season could be its last. It's highly unlikely that this will be the case considering the franchise has promoted Daryl Dixon season 4 as the final offering of that show, so it would be hard to imagine that they wouldn't do the same for Dead City.
Do you see where I'm going with this? I hope so, but just in case you aren't: It's becoming increasingly clear that the TWD Universe is heading for another major end to another major era. Daryl Dixon's final season is almost upon us, meaning that fans will be heading into 2027 knowing that this particular show won't return for another outing. Dead City's future is unclear at the moment, but even if it does return for a fourth season, that will likely be its last too.
While Daryl Dixon had potential to run for more seasons, the creative team felt that season 4 was the right place to end it. On the other hand, Dead City started as a show that felt like it had a limited shelf life. Starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, it placed an emphasis on the long-standing feud between Maggie and Negan - less of a "feud" and more of a "Maggie wants revenge on Negan for brutally killing her husband and will never trust that he has truly changed", but you get the picture. As The Walking Dead's series finale officially ended that storyline, a lot of fans were against the idea of Dead City as it meant having to walk back over that territory and undo one of the finale's most powerful moments.
Admittedly, the Dead City season 3 trailer looks a lot better than the second season of the spinoff did, and it has officially moved the story in a new direction. Employing a more optimistic tone, this season will see Maggie and Negan attempt to revive Manhattan in the hopes of building a better tomorrow, and it appears that they are actually getting along. So, yes, this theoretically could extend the show's lifespan by a few more seasons.
That being said, the franchise can't survive on one aged spinoff - especially the one that fans criticized the most. So where does that leave the franchise? Suddenly, the vibrant, hopeful TWD Universe is reduced to one completely reinvented spinoff that can realistically only really run for 2-3 more seasons at max. Is there a future beyond that? Is there a future if Dead City bows out before that?
More TWD spinoffs need to be announced before it's too late
There is one hope, but it too would be the final nail in the TWD franchise's coffin: The long-awaited crossover / reunion series. Essentially a season 12 of the original The Walking Dead series, there have long been rumors that this particular project has been quietly in the works for sometime now - with the aim to bring the worlds of the three recent spinoffs back together for one more Avengers: Endgame-like crossover.
AMC's Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Scott M. Gimple, has implied that the idea has crossed the minds of the TWD creatives while longtime TWD executive producer Greg Nicotero has confirmed that the idea has been discussed for years now. Gimple has also alluded to a future filled with more Walking Dead spinoffs - perhaps even more international spinoffs focusing on familiar franchise characters in unique and different locations.
Four years ago, there were three brand new Walking Dead spinoffs designed to give a veteran franchise a brand new direction. It worked, reinvigorating interest and changing up a story that has stayed the same for a very long time. But one by one, the pieces have fallen - slowly, yes, but quicker than we expected them to.
The Ones Who Live wasn't announced as a miniseries, so fans were hoping there would be a second season. When it was revealed that there wouldn't be, it caught a lot of them off-guard as they didn't get to experience Rick Grimes' "final chapter" for what it was. And from there, Daryl Dixon's impending conclusion, and Dead City's rumored shelf life have all suggested that this chapter of the TWD Universe's days were always numbered. To say that kicking off that crossover would be a good idea right about now would be an understatement.
San Diego Comic-Con is right around the corner and AMC's Walking Dead franchise always has a panel. If they return this year, you can rest assured that promoting Daryl Dixon season 4 (and probably Dead City season 3, which premieres that same weekend of SDCC) will be at the top of their priority list. But considering that there is a chance that there might be no TWD shows on the air by Comic-Con next year (if the Dead City rumors are true), it might be a good idea to announce some kind of definitive future plan for the rest of the franchise before it's too late.
We know that Andrew Lincoln is in talks to return as Rick at some point in the near-future. If it's for the rumored crossover show, now is the time to announce it! After all, we want the TWD Universe to live!
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