AMC’s plan to keep The Walking Dead going includes movies and TV spin-offs

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

With Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan both leaving The Walking Dead during the upcoming ninth season of the long-running series, you would be forgiven for assuming that The Walking Dead is in the stages of winding down, but AMC has big plans for the future of the series. AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan has previously said that they have a plan worked out for the next decade of The Walking Dead franchise, and a new report from Bloomberg hints at what they have in mind.

In addition to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, AMC Networks Inc. plans on producing "multiple movies and new TV shows" based upon the graphic-novel series. As this endeavor will cost quite the pretty penny, AMC has been talking to several large media companies about partnering on the projects which are said to collectively cost several hundred million dollars. It's no surprise that there are further TV spin-offs planned, but the prospect of a series of Walking Dead movies is quite interesting. Bloomberg added that these movies will likely be produced for a TV network or streaming service and potentially spin off into different series. AMC is also keen on taking The Walking Dead out of North America, as at least one of the spin-off projects is said to take place in another country. Scott Gimple, who was named Chief Content Officer for The Walking Dead franchise after serving as show-runner for the past four seasons of the flagship series, will be overseeing development of "different narrative possibilities." AMC has reportedly told potential investors that all of the rights to The Walking Dead on up for grabs. "Ownership of that content — call it ‘Walking Dead,’ ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ — allows us to determine the fate of that content, so we can navigate as we choose," Sapan said. "If we manage it properly it has a long life, which is not to say it will always look like a TV series."

The official synopsis for the upcoming ninth season of The Walking Dead:

Now, viewers will see the survivors a year and a half after the end of the war, rebuilding civilization under Rick’s steadfast leadership. It is a time of relative peace among the communities as they work together, looking to the past to forge the future, but the world they knew is rapidly changing as man-made structures continue to degrade, and nature takes over, changing the landscape and creating new challenges for our survivors. As time passes, the communities confront unexpected obstacles, danger, and of course, walkers, but nothing quite prepares them for the formidable force they are about to encounter, which threatens the very idea of civilization that our survivors have worked so hard to build.

The Walking Dead will return to AMC on October 7, 2018.