Almost three years after the credits rolled on The Walking Dead's series finale, the TWD Universe is alive and well. If you were keeping up with any and all things TWD at the time, you probably already knew that there would be more stories told throughout the years after the original show's conclusion. After all, the series finale set up all three planned spinoffs - even bringing back Rick Grimes and Michonne to do so. But even now, three years later, those stories continue.
The Walking Dead: Dead City kicked things off in 2023 and it brought Lauren Cohan's Maggie Rhee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan back to screens for a new showdown between the two enemies in New York City. Shortly after that, Daryl Dixon took Norman Reedus' crossbow-wielding warrior to France, and The Ones Who Live finally wrapped up Rick Grimes and Michonne's love story (for now).
But again, we shouldn't be surprised as the TWD Universe is familiar with spinoffs. One thing that might surprise you, however, is that the fate of one of those classic spinoffs was quietly revealed this year. And, well, it's not the answer fans were hoping for.
There are no plans for more episodes of Tales of the Walking Dead
Tales of the Walking Dead has been in limbo ever since it completed its run 2022. Ironically, it was announced as one of the first two post-TWD spinoffs but it actually ended up airing before The Walking Dead concluded, making it part of the original class of spinoffs (along with Fear The Walking Dead and World Beyond). Like those shows, however, it has since come to an end. The only problem is that fans weren't aware of that.
If you're wondering how we know this, let's dive into a report from The Direct in which Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe at AMC, Scott M. Gimple himself, opened up about the fate of the show.
"I'm desperate to do more of those," he told the outlet before confirming fans' worst fears about the show's fate. "We don't have imminent plans to do it, but I'm constantly, constantly, constantly bringing it up."
As for why there aren't any new episodes of Tales on the horizon, Gimple has an answer for that too. "It's a more challenging show because of the variety," he said, adding, "because you're starting at zero every episode. So that's one thing that's sort of slowing it down a little bit."
Tales was an anthology series, meaning that each episode told a contained story, focusing on one group of characters in one specific situation. It made each installment feel like a mini movie in and of itself, offering up more unique perspectives of the post-apocalyptic world we've all watched from the TWD Universe over the past decade.
The good news is that Gimple is keeping an open mind about returning to the show at some point, saying that he will "always keep it in the mix as a possibility." However, this also throws the future of another planned spinoff into jeopardy.
The future is unclear for More Tales From The Walking Dead Universe
You might have forgotten that, ahead of the launch of the new TWD Universe spinoffs, AMC ordered a new short-form series from the beloved saga titled More Tales From The Walking Dead Universe. That mouthful was only the working title, but it was set to be a six-part scripted series focusing on more unique standalone tales within the franchise. This would have been the seventh TWD spinoff and it was quite possible that it could have served as a second season of Tales (albeit in the new short-form format). But now, it's unclear if that is even happening.
It's been over two years since More Tales was announced and there hasn't been a single update on it since. Granted, the new phase of the TWD Universe launched shortly after that announcement, confirming that the future of the franchise would feature the most beloved faces from the past. These new cinematic stories revolving around The Walking Dead's main characters have been the focus of the new spinoffs, so perhaps somewhere along the line AMC decided not to move forward with either title in the Tales series.
We'll have to wait and see if the cable network ever offers an update as to what's happening with More Tales but Gimple's comments do suggest that it has been scrapped. That would be a shame if that's the case, as it's always interesting to see different perspectives of the apocalypse's early days.
Nevertheless, there are still plenty of adventures from the TWD Universe to enjoy - and that won't be changing anytime soon. Dead City was just recently renewed for a third season while Daryl Dixon returns for its third this September (along with the potential promise of a fourth).
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