It's officially a new year, which means that AMC's classic Walking Dead franchise gets to live on for another year. The iconic saga started with one TV show all the way back in 2010, but it continues to produce new stories even now, three years after The Walking Dead itself ended. And with that, we're into the 16th year of its existence (heck, it's been alive for far longer than that if we just go by the comics' existence).
There will be new seasons of spinoffs Daryl Dixon and Dead City coming this year, but we don't have to wait that long for new content from the TWD Universe. In fact, this month - January 2026 - is set to be a big one for fans of the franchise, as a special crossover looks to make history (and that's not all).
The Walking Dead's World War Z crossover and Andrew Lincoln's return to US TV will both happen in January
January 2026 is a good time to be a Walking Dead fan, and it kicks off what is shaping up to be a big year for the franchise. Perhaps the most exciting element of it all is the heavily-anticipated video game crossover between The Walking Dead and World War Z, which arrives this month. Two major zombie franchises are set to collide for the first time and you know that fans are ready to embrace that.
A collaboration between AMC and Saber Interactive, the campaign brings four beloved characters from the TWD Universe to the World War Z game. Not only do you get to play as them, you get to roam around iconic locations from the beloved show, including the prison, Alexandria, and Grady Memorial Hospital. As for which Walking Dead characters you can expect to see? Well, that's none other than Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Michonne, and Negan. The former two characters will also be voiced by the TWD legends who made them famous, with Andrew Lincoln and Rick Grimes reprising their roles.
Saber and AMC have yet to officially announce an exact release date for the World War Z x The Walking Dead collaboration but it has been confirmed that we will be getting it on video game platforms sometime in January 2026. So, keep a lookout because one of the biggest genre crossovers of the year is almost upon us!
Speaking of Andrew Lincoln, the TWD legend returns to US TV screens this week, as his brand new series Coldwater premieres on Paramount Plus on Friday, January 9. Originally produced for UK channel ITV (and its streaming offshoot ITVX), it stars Lincoln as a man who moves to an isolated Scottish village with his wife in search of a new beginning. However, between past sins coming back to haunt him and a new, odd, unusually fascinating friendship forming between him and his neighbor, things threaten to take a dark turn.
The thriller received solid reviews from UK outlets, with the majority of the praise being directed towards Lincoln's performance as main character John. If you've watched him in The Walking Dead, you'll know that's not a surprise as the star thrives with layered and nuanced performances like this one.
Other things that make January such an important month for TWD fans? January 6 marks Norman Reedus' birthday, as the Daryl Dixon star turned 57 this year. And January 8 brings His & Hers to Netflix, which stars Shane Walsh himself Jon Bernthal.
The rest of 2026 also promises big things for the TWD Universe
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we will likely see new seasons of both Daryl Dixon and Dead City (a recent post from Valhalla Entertainment implied that both would indeed release this year) arrive at some point. The former will likely maintain its typical September release slot, as the three previous seasons have aired on AMC and AMC+ in that month. Dead City has been a summer release up until this point, so it's possible that it will hold that slot this year, too.
The return of Daryl Dixon will undoubtedly be the most bittersweet element of all, as the TWD show's fourth season will mark the conclusion of its run. That means that we will see the end of Daryl and Carol's story in the franchise for now. Although they could very well return in another spinoff, the notion of their story - a story that has been running for 16 years across two TWD shows - ending is too sad to think about.
Dead City's upcoming third season will also promise a good time. TWD veteran Seth Hoffman makes his long-awaited return to the franchise to serve as showrunner of the spinoff, which will take Maggie and Negan's long-standing storylines into new territory. As they find themselves still in Manhattan, they have teamed up with Perlie Armstrong in a bid to bring the city back and evict The Croat, The Dama, and their army for good.
With Daryl Dixon ending and Dead City's future beyond season 3 unclear at the moment, we might get some more updates about what the future of the TWD Universe could look like. After all, those behind all of it reckon it could go on for a lot more years. So what would that involve beyond Dead City? Maybe 2026 is the year we'll get our answers!