The Walking Dead series has inspired a long list of spinoffs set in the same world. Fear the Walking Dead was the first, followed by World Beyond, and a limited series, World Beyond, followed by the little-known Tales of the Walking Dead. Tales of TWD is an anthology series that many fans disregarded when they discovered new characters were introduced, and all but one story didn't feature familiar characters.
Tales of the Walking Dead features six individual stories focusing on new characters in new locations duriing various time after the outbreak. When it was first announced everyone got the impression this series would tell stories about characters from the main series that had never been told. The reality is only one episode, "Dee," is about someone from TWD. "Dee" is a flashback episode to learn more about Alpha (Samantha Morton), leader of the Whisperers.
Recently, TWD Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple was asked about the future of this series in an interview with The Direct from Multicon. He stated, "I'm desperate to do more of those" episodes. He added that there are no immediate plans to do so, but he is constantly bringing that series up in conversations.
What is Tales of the Walking Dead?
If you aren't aware, Tales of TWD features six standalone episodes that greatly expand TWD universe. Set in different areas of the United States, each episode occurs at various points after the beginning of the end of the world. One unique element of this series is that anyone can watch the episodes in any order and understand the storyline, even viewers who have never watched an episode of The Walking Dead.
Tales of TWD also introduced many impressive actors to TWDU, including Terry Crews, Olivia Munn, Parker Posey, Jillian Bell, Lauren Glazier, Anthony Edwards, Poppy Liu, Jessie T. Usher, Danny Ramirez, and more.
This series opens up a world of possibilities for the universe. These stories could feature flashback episodes of stories from the early seasons of the main series, and features side stories of characters, even ones who died. It will be exciting to see if anything continues with this type of storytelling.
One great example of stories that should be featured in this style is from The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live surprise cameo by Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). TOWL creators did a fantastic job inserting this side story of Gabriel and Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) and their secret meetings. I talk more about that in another article; read it here.
If you have yet to watch Tales of the Walking Dead, I highly recommend you do so with an open mind and remember, this isn't The Walking Dead. Watch it as you would any other post-apocalyptic series without expecting it to live up to the main series.
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