Is watching The Walking Dead & other spinoffs necessary to watch The Ones Who Live?

Showrunner & TWD CCO Scott M. Gimple addresses watching other series in The Walking Dead universe.

Danai Gurira as Michonne - The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live _ Season 1 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Danai Gurira as Michonne - The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live _ Season 1 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /
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Sunday, February 25, AMC and AMC+ will release the first episode of the newest spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. The highly anticipated series brings Rick and Michonne back into the fold to continue what is described as an epic love story.

The Walking Dead universe consists of the main series which began airing in 2010 followed by a long line of spinoffs, of which The Ones Who Live makes six. The three newest spinoffs focus on characters originally made popular in the main series. Dead City features Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and Daryl Dixon focuses on the titular character played by Norman Reedus, with its second season bringing Carol (Melissa McBride) into the story. The Ones Who Live will see the return of Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), who left the main series in seasons 9 and 10.

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The Ones Who Live Key Art /

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Ones Who Live showrunner Scott M. Gimple addresses the question of whether or not viewers have to be current with ALL the spinoffs in order to watch and understand the new ones.

"“With all of The Walking Dead universe shows, we try not to make them absolutely necessary viewing to understand what is going on. You don't have to watch any of them to know what's going on with the other one.”"

Scott M. Gimple

Dead City and Daryl Dixon did a fantastic job of filling in some blanks that allow viewers to watch without ever seeing another story within The Walking Dead universe. According to Gimple, The One Who Live will be the same. This is good news for people who dropped out of the main series before the end but a curious about what has happened with Rick and Michonne.

What is the point of The Walking Dead: World Beyond?

The Walking Dead: World Beyond is something fans may consider a binge-watch to keep abreast on the apocolyptic superpower of the Civic Republic Military (CRM). This coming-of-age in an apocalypse story is quite different than other spinoffs as it focuses on the first generation to grow up after the outbreak.

While CRM has been mentioned in several spinoffs, World Beyond is the first to give a glimpse into how powerful this organization is. This spinoff also saw the return of Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), who was known to have rescued Rick in The Walking Dead, and both were transported to the CRM. In World Beyond, Jadis is introduced as a warrant officer for the CRM.

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Pollyanna McIntosh as Jadis - The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live _ Season 1 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /

Don't miss the next chapter of The Walking Dead universe, The Ones Who Live, on AMC and AMC+ on February 25.

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