As someone who has stayed up to date with all The Walking Dead spinoffs, some weren’t worth the time to watch. Some are also genuinely fun and would appeal to any fan of the franchise. One of those is Dead City, which stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan as Negan and Maggie.
An unlikely pairing, but when I first found out about the show, I had a feeling it might work. The two always had great chemistry in the scenes they shared in the main series (you know, when she wanted to kill him), and there’s just something about the enemies-to-reluctant-allies trope that gets me.
But over the last few months or so, I’ve noticed that discussion surrounding Dead City has slowed down after the season 3 finale. While I do believe that this show deserves a season 4, if not as its final season, there are a few reasons why I don’t believe we’ll be getting that anytime soon.
The Dead City season 3 finale wrapped pretty tightly
We have some Dead City questions after the season 3 finale, and things season 4 could fix, but if we’re being frank… there aren’t that many unsolved plotlines or questions that we truly need answered for the show to… end.
Would I like an explanation for why Maggie seems unwilling to address anyone in Alexandria now? Of course. I'd also love to see what she plans to do to take the entire city back. But do we need it for the story to finish? Not really.
Season 3 ended with things pretty much at peace. Hershel (Logan Kim) is still training to work in the medical sector while also learning how to tattoo (which is pretty awesome). Maggie has moved on from her past and is taking on a leadership role. Negan has essentially become her guard dog, and they’re on pretty great terms, if you can believe it.
There’s nothing there that’s screaming “We HAVE to know this before the show ends.” So if they wanted to end it, they very well could. It would be disappointing, yeah, but it’s possible.
The Dead City actors have been booked and busy
Another big reason Dead City might not receive a season 4 is that the actors are moving in different directions. Lauren Cohan landed a role in a new Prime Video show, Stillwater.
She could lead both this and Dead City, but it would take a lot of scheduling to make that work. But it’s not just her that’s concerning. Logan Kim also took on another TV role — coincidentally, alongside Steven Yeun, who played Glenn in The Walking Dead and is Hershel Jr.’s father. He will appear in a new Netflix series called Pagans.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also expected to return for the announced second season of Sterling Point on Prime Video, so he’ll be busy, too. When so many actors are leaning into different projects at the same time, it usually means the next season might not even be in the works.
Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean the series is canceled yet. This has happened before. Euphoria’s actors were allowed to take on different roles between 2022 and 2026 while waiting for the next season, which faced delays. We could get season 4 in a few years. But right now, the chances are looking slim.
The Walking Dead universe has given us barely any hints
The biggest reason here is that no one involved with The Walking Dead universe has hinted at a Dead City renewal since the end of the last season. In fact, the most recent update we’ve gotten from AMC is that there’s going to be “bonus content” for fans of the overall universe of The Walking Dead, but not a season 4 renewal.
What does that even mean?
They’ve been saying this franchise is evergreen and they can do so much with it, but they’re not addressing the thing that every fan wants to know.
Normally, you’d at least hear something about season 4 by now. Season 2 was announced before season 1 even finished, and season 3 was green-lit not long after season 2. Waiting this long does not bode well.
Either way, a girl can dream that we’ll get something more in this series, if not at least a finale movie to tie everything together. But until then, all we can do is unfortunately wait.
You can stream all three seasons of The Walking Dead: Dead City on AMC+.
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