AMC Offers Update on Walking Dead Spin Off
It’s been some time since we last heard the undying moans of the “Walking Dead” spin off series, but rest assured, it’s still coming. With the AMC network losing most of its high profile shows, it would seem as if they were in great need of new programing to fill in the gaps. But AMC execs Charlie Collier and Joel Stillerman don’t want you to take that as a sign of desperation.
While speaking with Vulture, the two addressed some of the concerns building around the network’s future and their plans for developing new programming in the wake of so many shows coming to an end. One prospect that they announced last season was a companion series to the “Walking Dead” that would focus on a different group of people trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.
That show is not as far along. Robert has some things on his plate. He continues to write every issue of the comic and hasn’t finished season four of The Walking Dead, which he is very intimately involved with and will continue to be. That’s really in the incubation stages. The one thing that I’ll share is just an anecdote that Robert shared with us. He has such a specific vision that he laid out really clearly in the first issue of the comic book. And I encourage anybody who’s interested in the show to go read the note that he wrote in the first issue of the comic. His motivation for telling that story was so clear and so powerful, and it served as such a great north star for the show. We kicked around a few ideas, but primarily what he’s working on is, what is the idea that gives [him] as clear a mandate to make another version of this show as [he] had for the first one? What is going on [now] is a more philosophical discussion over why there should be another version of the show. Once we answer that, we’ll zero in on the specific creative.
One concern that many have held about the upcoming companion series is that having multiple shows based around “The Walking Dead” would somehow dilute the property as a whole. It’s a concern that Collier is well aware of.
What we want to do is not diminish the mothership. What we want to do is find something that everyone involved feels as passionately about as being a unique vehicle and unique enterprise as compared to the original series. We’ll take our time, and we’ll do it right.
For those that don’t like “The Walking Dead”, more of it won’t change their opinion on the series. However, the fact that AMC isn’t rushing the project into development is at least a good sign that we won’t get a half-baked product. Perhaps, with this new series, they will find a pace that’ll appease people who aren’t satisfied with the current series. It’s a unique opportunity for AMC to cover all their bases with one property, it’ll be interesting to watch where they go from here.
