After the second season of The Walking Dead: Dead City was released to mixed-to-negative reviews, it was clear a new direction was needed. However, few imagined how much of a different project it would turn out to be. The Walking Dead writer and producer Seth Hoffman took over showrunner duties for the third season of Maggie and Negan's spinoff show, and plenty of pre-existing storylines were dropped from the get-go.
Warning: This article contains MAJOR spoilers for the ending of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3.
Previous antagonists such as the Croat and the Dama were killed in the first episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3, while newcomers helped raise a community of survivors led by Maggie and Renata. But although many friendly faces entered the picture, some of them lived long enough to see themselves become the villains in this post-apocalyptic world.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 culminated with the heartbreaking death of Mason Dillard, Negan's best friend turned enemy. The former police officer was harmless at first, helping Maggie on multiple occasions and playing video games with Negan most of the time. Unfortunately, his quest for revenge put him on an inevitable path to becoming a walker by the time the credits rolled on the finale. However, the end of his story nearly played out very differently, as revealed by Negan himself.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan pitched the idea of filming an alternate ending for The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3, in which Dillard lived
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jimmi Simpson had incredible chemistry playing the roles of Negan and Mason Dillard in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3. The two had already worked together on the set of the cop show The Division over two decades ago, and their TV reunion proved they hadn't missed a beat.
Their relationship was definitely a highlight of the TWD spin-off show, which is why Morgan pitched the idea of filming an alternate ending where Dillard didn't die, as revealed during an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
"The only thing that I hated was losing Jimmi. I didn't wanna lose Jimmi. I had pitched the idea of shooting two endings — one where he lives and one where he dies. I went to Jimmi first, and Lauren and I talked, and then we went to [showrunner Seth Hoffman]."
Unfortunately, this idea didn't get past the ideation stage, as Morgan revealed that Jimmi Simpson already had a contractual obligation to appear in Apple TV's Dark Matter season 2: "Jimmi's got another show. He's too f***ing popular, and too f***ing popular with that show!"
But despite the fact that Morgan won't be able to share the set of The Walking Dead: Dead City with Jimmi Simpson moving forward, he's very satisfied with the ending of Dillard's arc:
"I loved Dillard being with his friends at the end. And being where he kinda wanted to be — walking with his buddies and the Jets fans. I think that was kind of his ultimate happy place, where he wasn't happy in this world, and he was happy in that one. I loved that ending. I couldn't ever get that image out of my brain of him walking down Fifth Avenue with the walkers and doing his moaning and groaning and zombie talk."
Interestingly, the fact that there were talks about making Simpson a series regular could be an indication that there will be more episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City in the future. For the time being, AMC hasn't renewed the spin-off show for a fourth season. However, the open-ended finale leaves the door open for the return of Maggie and Negan alike. It seems it is a matter of "when" AMC will choose to renew the series, and not a matter of "if."
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Simpson also stated he was happy about how Dillard's arc felt fully realized when his character ended up becoming a walker:
"[Jeffrey Dean Morgan] was like, 'This is a great arc and I just wanna keep doing scenes with you!' But I wasn't in the position to even really entertain that because of other commitments. Dark Matter is my legal priority. But I was just so stoked that the arc was so fully realized. But then truly sad that I don’t get to do this with Jeffrey anymore. And it was just so great to get to know Lauren as well."
Furthermore, Simpson revealed that one of the reasons Dillard was so attached to the walkers trapped in his bar was because he saw them as "innocent" creatures that "are as they say."
That's why it was very hard for him to process that the very same person who retaught him how to connect with humans was the one who got rid of his undead friends:
"That's the thing that broke him is, 'I wasn’t even trying to get here, Negan, and you made me think I could get here. And then you shattered it. And you not only shattered my idea of a human relationship, you shattered my unbreakable bond with these walkers who are exactly as they say. They are as innocent as animals.' So Dillard losing his mind was a completely emotional experience for me. This is his only option."
While Dillard may be no more, it seems there's a lot of room for a fourth season of The Walking Dead: Dead City. The show has hit its stride, and it wouldn't be surprising if a renewal announcement came our way during New York Comic-Con 2026. After all, we don't know what the future of The Walking Dead looks like past 2027 after the release of Daryl Dixon season 4. Despite that, all signs indicate that we haven't seen the last of Negan and Maggie just yet.
All episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 are now streaming on AMC+.
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