Possible unpopular opinion: let The Walking Dead have the peaceful death it deserves.
The hasty ending of the TWD comics in June of 2019 came as a shock for unprepared readers, many of whom had been along for the entire 16-year ride. Personally, I had only taken the plunge about five months prior, after a few failed attempts to start the series. As a day one fan of the AMC series, binging the comics left me disappointed in how the very public disagreements between cast members, showrunners, and network executives had created such a deep schism between the on-screen story and its source material.
Of course, I do realize that reality does affect the series and we don’t live in a perfect world. Covid created production issues that resulted in some less-than-ideal episodes to close out season 10. Danai Gurira’s involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe led to her abrupt departure from the series shortly after her role increased. Lauren Cohan’s projects outside of TWD took her away from the series in the ninth season without much explanation as to where her character had gone, only for it to be revealed later that she would return the following season.
Recently, the news dropped that there would be yet another spinoff from the original The Walking Dead series, Isle of the Walking Dead. The new chapter will be set in Manhattan and led on-screen by Cohan’s Maggie and Negan, who is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, two characters who canonically strongly dislike one another.
WHY? (Money, duh. But still.)
This feels like a Star Wars–esque cash grab. AMC is insistent upon expanding this universe far beyond where anyone asked for it to go while straying farther and farther from whence it came. We already have Fear the Walking Dead, the webseries The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, which hasn’t even aired yet, and a rumored Daryl-and-Carol-fronted series which, yet again, tells viewers not to worry about them as they watch. Plus, we have yet to see any progress on the three Rick-centered feature-length adventures that were pushed back due to the pandemic. or will they be part of the new series? Who knows. Although the original series is coming to a close, the creators and network heads seem to have chosen to continue their path of oversaturation. Sometimes you have to know when enough is enough.
For me, The Walking Dead died suddenly and peacefully three years ago in a little cabin on the cover of issue 193 of the comic series with a satisfying end befitting its heroes. While we don’t yet know exactly what’s in store for the majority of the live-action characters, I think it can be agreed upon that it’s time to let them go as well.
This post was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Kahlil Johnson traces his nerdy roots back to stumbling upon an episode of Dragon Ball Z one day after school in the fifth grade, and the rest was history. He was encouraged to write at an early age by his parents and learned from his artist uncle that you’re never too old for cartoons. Kahlil currently lives in Buffalo, NY with his loving fiancée and their two dogs, Lola and Phoebe.
