The Walking Dead has entered its hydra phase, where you cut off one head and it spawns three more. That’s actually exactly what happened now that the main Walking Dead series ended after 11 seasons, it has branched into three more spin-offs with its main characters, Dead City, starring Maggie and Negan, Daryl Dixon starring, I mean, take a guess, and then the Rick and Michonne series. They are airing in that order, and now we have an official date for the first one, Dead City.
Negan and Maggie’s Manhattan adventure will begin airing on June 18, 2023, barely over half a year since the last episode of The Walking Dead, which was at the end of November in 2022. We usually have to wait longer for a new season of The Walking Dead than we are its first spin-off here, which shows just how unwilling AMC is to let this gravy train go, even if TWD doesn’t have the cultural influence it had 4-6 years ago, certainly.
Dead City follows Negan and Maggie as they attempt to rescue an older, recast Herschel, Maggie and Glenn’s son, who has been kidnapped and taken somewhere in Manhattan, it seems. We know little else about the series besides that basic premise, only that when we last left Negan, he was about to have a kid himself, and by this point in the timeline, that kid is probably born. I’m also not clear if Maggie and Negan are forced to work together in this situation, or if Negan has volunteered to rescue Herschel as a part of his eternal quest to make things right with Maggie.
Some have grown concerned that the series may be setting up a Negan/Maggie romance, given the fact that they’ve been paired together for this show. While I want to say I doubt that’s the case, and that would never be allowed to happen, The Walking Dead has not exactly been a good decision-making factory these last few years, so I never want to say never.
I also remain unclear about the long-term plans for these new spin-offs, whether they’re supposed to be ongoing series or just miniseries. I think it’s been stated outright that the Rick and Michonne show is a limited series, but I haven’t heard the same about Dead City or Daryl Dixon, so who knows.
This release date announcement was paired with a new trailer where I guess in Manhattan, given all the skyscrapers, walkers now fall from the sky:
We’ll see how this goes. I’m a bit skeptical of really all these spin-offs, but we’ll have our first taste of them just under three months from now, it seems.