The Walking Dead ends in 2022, anthology and Carol & Daryl spin-off follow

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

AMC has just made a major announcement about the future of The Walking Dead, as they have revealed that the zombie series is coming to an end in late 2022 after an expanded, two-year season 11 that will consist of 24 episodes. Since it's going to air over the course of two years I'm not sure why that doesn't count as two seasons, but that's how AMC is approaching it.

Of course, the end of the flagship show doesn't mean the end of the series. AMC still has Fear the Walking Dead, the two season limited series The Walking Dead: World Beyond debuts this October, a film centering on the Rick Grimes character is in development at Universal… and there are more Walking Dead shows on the way.

The Walking Dead's chief content officer Scott M. Gimple had this to say:

What’s clear is that this show has been about the living, made by a passionate cast, team of writer/producers, producers, and crew, bringing to life the vision put forth by Robert Kirkman in his brilliant comic — and supported by the best fans in the world. We have a lot of thrilling story left to tell on 'TWD,' and then, this end will be a beginning of more Walking Dead — brand new stories and characters, familiar faces and places, new voices and new mythologies. This will be a grand finale that will lead to new premieres. Evolution is upon us. ‘The Walking Dead’ lives."

The Walking Dead lives on with a spin-off show starring Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus as Carol Peletier and Daryl Dixon. The original show's current showrunner Angela Kang will serve as showrunner on the spin-off, which will premiere in 2023.

Kang said this about the Dead plans:

The Walking Dead flagship series has been my creative home for a decade and so it’s bittersweet to bring it to an end, but I could not be more excited to be working with Scott Gimple and AMC to develop a new series for Daryl and Carol. Working with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride has been a highlight of my career and I’m thrilled that we get to keep telling stories together.”

AMC and Gimple are also developing an anthology series called Tales of the Walking Dead,

each episode of which will follow a different character and story arc.

The episode of The Walking Dead that was supposed to be the season 10 finale will air on October 4th. It will be followed immediately by the premiere episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, with the season 6 premiere of Fear the Walking Dead airing on October 11th.

Season 10 of The Walking Dead will then continue with six "bonus" episodes in early 2021. Taking the October finale, the bonus episodes, and the 24 episodes of season 11 into account, there are 31 episodes of The Walking Dead left to air before the show comes to an end.