Fans of the legendary Walking Dead fans have been on tenterhooks for the past year or so as the future of the franchise remains unclear. While the stories of the apocalyptic survivors have continued on beyond The Walking Dead itself, the current spinoffs are seemingly preparing to end this phase for the TWD Universe. One offshoot ended two years ago with its single season concluding its respective story, another is ending this year, while the other's future isn't particularly clear beyond its upcoming season.
Although the powers-that-be at AMC have put some of those fears at rest, confirming that there will be future TWD spinoffs on the cable network, the creatives' real chance to assure fans in person won't be going down exactly as they hoped. Oh, don't get us wrong, the TWD Universe is coming to San Diego Comic-Con as hoped; its line-up is just going to be limited to one show.
A Dead City Season 3 SDCC Panel likely won't shed much light on TWD's future
AMC has confirmed that The Walking Dead Universe will continue its streak of attending San Diego Comic-Con. However, in what came as a surprise to many, it will actually be the cast and crew of The Walking Dead: Dead City who attend this time around in order to promote the show's upcoming third season. A pleasant surprise for the series, yes indeed, but surprising in two other aspects.
A portion of TWD fans weren't expecting a Dead City panel as the third season kicks off on AMC and AMC+ during Comic-Con weekend, so many understandably just assumed that they wouldn't have enough time to promote it (but as the eight-episode season will run through the summer, it makes sense). Moreover, fellow TWD spinoff The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been a regular, annual fixture of SDCC for the past two years, so it's surprising to be hearing that the cast and crew of it won't be attending - especially when the final season is coming this year.
The biggest issue that fans have with this announcement is the fact that it will understandably be more show-specific, teasing what's to come in Dead City season 3 while not revealing much else about the state of the TWD Universe. Again, the immediate future of the franchise is uncertain as Dead City is the only series that doesn't have an outright end date (but, as its upcoming season is also rumored to be its last, it isn't out of the woods yet either), so fans are worried that the TWD Universe's 17-year streak of producing ongoing programming could be broken next year.
Of course, there is a silver lining here. If AMC plans on renewing Dead City for a fourth season, then SDCC would be the perfect time to announce it. This would also solve the streak issue, as production on a potential fourth season would presumably commence before the end of the year, meaning that it would almost certainly air on-screens next year - ensuring that the TWD Universe's streak remains intact.
But with this particularly "TWD Universe Era" clearly winding down, fans of the franchise want to know what's next. They would certainly love for Dead City to still be a part of that next chapter, but with more potential stories on the horizon and no confirmed plans as of yet, there is frustration that things are moving slowly - potentially risking the momentum that the franchise still has.
But, again, AMC boss Dan McDermott recently confirmed that there will always be Walking Dead shows as part of AMC's line-up, so the franchise isn't going anywhere. Whether that's in the form of that long-awaited Rick and Daryl crossover / reunion series (that would theoretically bring the casts of the three newer spinoffs back together) or another, separate spinoff idea remains to be seen, but the good news is that there will be more TWD shows in the future.
Fans were just hoping that there would be more of an overall TWD panel so that AMC's Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Scott M. Gimple, could shed some light on the future plans for the franchise. If the panel doesn't have any of that, we could well be looking at another year of vague statements without a concrete timeline for the next phase of the TWD Universe. And, honestly, that wouldn't be a good thing.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 premieres on AMC and AMC+ on Sunday, July 26. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4 premieres in the fall.
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