AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” the most popular scripted drama in cable history, will finally wrap in 2022 after 11 seasons.
But its death will be a long, ambling one. The final 11th season will be a supersized 24 episodes, split between 2021 and 2022.
“The Walking Dead” franchise will live on. AMC announced two more spinoffs, one featuring two of the original surviving cast members Carol (Melissa McBride) and Darryl Dixon (Norman Reedus.) The other will be an anthology series.
There are already two existing spin-offs (“Fear the Walking Dead” and “The Walking Dead: World Beyond”) and a series of upcoming films featuring Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln.).
“It’s been 10 years ‘gone bye;’ what lies ahead are two more to come and stories and stories to tell beyond that,” said franchise chief Scott Gimple in a statement. “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”
AMC purchased Raleigh Studios in Senoia in 2017 and expects to keep it filled with zombies in the coming years.
Most seasons of “The Walking Dead” have been 16 episodes. The producers wrapped season 10 late last year but due to post-production challenges, they were not able to finish the 16th and final episode in time to air in the spring. It will instead air as a stand-alone episode October 4. Six more episodes, yet to be filmed, will be added on to finish up season 10.
The show, which debuted nearly a decade ago, drew more than 20 million viewers a week at its peak in 2015. Its audience is now a mere shadow of that but remains a relatively formidable four to five million viewers. Thanks to streaming and on-demand services, traditional ratings numbers are no longer as pertinent.
