The Walking Dead's Epic Spinoff: Unveiling Maggie & Negan's Show and the Thrilling Future of TWD

Summary

The spinoff's visual flair was widely praised, offering a revitalizing departure from the main show's gritty rural backdrop as it embraced the vibrant urban landscape of New York City.

The spinoff of The Walking Dead had some new elements, but it heavily relied on recycled storylines and failed to address lingering questions from previous shows in the series. This highlights a challenge for the shared universe format.

The Walking Dead: Dead City marked a fresh start for AMC's long-standing zombie franchise. However, there remains a significant question of whether the spinoff featuring Maggie and Negan injected new life into The Walking Dead or stumbled over its own decayed feet. It is an immense risk for AMC to continue with The Walking Dead in 2023, considering the decline in viewership experienced after a decade on air. Typically, TV shows facing such a slump are gracefully retired, only to be revived years later when nostalgia sets in. AMC, however, had a different plan. They decided to cancel The Walking Dead and replaced it with three entirely new shows.

Dead City Brought Attention Back To The Walking Dead (Sort Of)

The Walking Dead: Dead City, despite not being the first, second, or even third spinoff of The Walking Dead, was a pivotal moment for AMC's new undead content strategy. The show marked the first test of this strategy and showcased Lauren Cohan's Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan as the lead characters. Being the first spinoff to air after the main show's conclusion and featuring familiar faces from the start, the success of Dead City determined the fate of AMC's officially-branded "Walking Dead Universe." As season 1 concludes, The Walking Dead: Dead City not only illustrates the evolving nature of the franchise but also whether taking such a risk was worthwhile.

Since Negan's baseball bat brutally struck Glenn's skull, The Walking Dead has experienced a gradual decline in both viewership and critical acclaim. Once a cable sensation during the zombie craze of the 2010s, the show has struggled to maintain its popularity. To revitalize the post-apocalyptic franchise and recapture the attention of audiences, AMC decided to end The Walking Dead and introduce multiple spinoffs. This move acted as a reset button, allowing for a fresh approach and a renewed interest in Robert Kirkman's world. One of the spinoffs, The Walking Dead: Dead City, can be considered a moderate success.

Maggie and Negan's journey to New York may not have revived The Walking Dead's former glory from the mid-2010s - a task that no one realistically anticipated - but it did make history as the highest-rated cable drama debut of 2023. Additionally, The Walking Dead: Dead City achieved the impressive feat of being the most successful debut ever for AMC+, the network's streaming platform. According to AMC, the cable premiere garnered 972,000 viewers, which increased to 2 million when factoring in simulcasts, replays, and other viewings. Considering the significant amount of time that has passed since The Walking Dead last attracted positive attention for its viewership numbers, these figures can undoubtedly be seen as a triumph for the franchise and AMC.

However, upon closer examination, the statistical analysis of The Walking Dead: Dead City doesn't indicate a revival of interest from former fans. Despite the fact that Maggie and Negan's storyline required minimal knowledge of The Walking Dead's previous seasons, serving as the perfect entry point for returning viewers, comparing the figures of Dead City to The Walking Dead season 11 reveals limited enthusiasm in that aspect. AMC has predictably not disclosed the spinoff's budget publicly, but with a concise six-episode season, a smaller ensemble cast, and the official confirmation of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, it seems that the franchise's venture into New York City has pleased those working behind the scenes at AMC.

Dead City's Improved Visuals Reinvigorated The Walking Dead's Look

The Walking Dead's gritty rural aesthetic, largely filmed in Georgia, played a crucial role in creating a suspenseful and isolated atmosphere. However, as the seasons and spinoffs continued, the backdrops became indistinguishable, with dense vegetation and dusty roads blending together. The Walking Dead: Dead City, on the other hand, received widespread praise for its unique visual style when it replaced the Georgia grime with the vibrant neon of New York. The dense urban landscape not only set it apart from the original series but also gave it a more cinematic feel. This was especially evident in the final fight between Maggie and Negan, which took place on a catwalk above Manhattan docks, surrounded by flesh-hungry undead. In contrast, Negan's final battle against Rick was a mere scrap next to a tree in an empty field, highlighting the vast improvement in visual impact.

Dead City Season 1 Relied Too Much On Recycled Walking Dead Stories

AMC's new spinoff, The Walking Dead: Dead City, starts off strong but doesn't escape some concerning issues. One major problem is its reliance on familiar storylines and narrative patterns. The ongoing feud between Maggie and Negan, where Maggie struggles to forgive Negan for killing her husband, has already been explored in The Walking Dead season 11. Dead City essentially recycles this storyline, with Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan going through similar emotional journeys. Although Maggie and Negan reach some level of understanding, complete forgiveness remains out of reach.

In addition to the repetitive plotlines, other aspects of The Walking Dead: Dead City feel all too familiar. The rescue mission of Hershel by Maggie and Negan echoes a similar event in The Walking Dead's Commonwealth arc. The trope of seasoned protagonists rallying weaker communities against common enemies has been used multiple times since Rick Grimes arrived in Alexandria. Even the introduction of new settlements fails to bring anything fresh to The Walking Dead's formula. The Croat's villain group is essentially a watered-down version of the Saviors, while the New Babylon Federation blends in with PADRE, the CRM, and the Pioneers without any distinctive qualities.

Ironically, innovative ideas presented in The Walking Dead: Dead City were quickly overlooked. The premiere introduced Michelle Hurd as Jones, the owner of a thriving post-outbreak bar that offered a unique array of vices and services. This establishment was a fresh and intriguing addition to the Walking Dead universe. However, rather than exploring this fascinating concept further, the spinoff abruptly killed off Jones in the first episode, never revisiting the bar again. In a similar vein, the potential for Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character, Negan, to show new dimensions as a father figure to young Ginny was largely untapped, as they were separated for most of the first season.

Despite its impressive facade, The Walking Dead: Dead City ultimately falls back into familiar territory. The constant challenge of keeping the zombie apocalypse narrative fresh still remains for The Walking Dead. The upcoming spinoff, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live, featuring Rick and Michonne, now shoulders the responsibility of maintaining the visually stunning leap made by Dead City while also pushing the boundaries with compelling storylines and characters.

Dead City Season 1 Didn't Answer Any Lingering Walking Dead Questions

AMC's rebranding of the "Walking Dead Universe" marks a departure from the traditional model of a main show and spin-offs, opting instead for a shared universe approach inspired by Marvel's successful MCU. However, creating a cohesive yet distinct universe poses a challenge, as directors and writers often bring their own ideas to projects. Marvel's Phase 4 multiverse confusion serves as an example of this balancing act.

Unfortunately, Dead City, a part of the Walking Dead Universe, falls into the shared universe trap by failing to address important questions raised in other shows. One glaring omission is the absence of different types of zombies, known as variants. The Walking Dead: World Beyond introduced variants, and The Walking Dead season 11 showcased their increasing numbers within the zombie population. Considering that Dead City is set in a zombie-infested New York several years later, it is perplexing that not a single variant is present at Maggie and Negan's gathering.

The Walking Dead: Dead City, however, chose to disregard the established franchise villains, the Civic Republic Military, and instead introduced new communities. While it is understandable that creator Eli Jorné may want to forge his own path, disregarding previously hinted plot points undermines the continuity of the wider Walking Dead franchise. The absence of acknowledgment towards the villainous CRM, especially considering their confirmed presence in the New York area, could have provided a much-needed sense of connectivity between Dead City and the rest of the franchise.

The CRM will inevitably have its moment in The Ones Who Live, scheduled for 2024. On the other hand, variants appear to be a natural fit for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. The upcoming spinoff, which follows Norman Reedus' character to France, will explore the origin of the zombie outbreak and the existence of zombie variants, as previously revealed in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. How these long-standing stories are addressed or further sidelined in future spinoffs will undoubtedly impact the ongoing debate regarding the success of The Walking Dead as a shared universe across multiple TV shows.

Sources: AMC.