The Walking Dead - Season 5 and onwards

[Judderman]

So the article says that children are a consistently successful element in the franchise... but I wonder are AMC really saying the two leads will be children? I thought "young" would mean late teens/young adults. But ok if it just means people who were brought up in the Walking Dead world that makes sense. Then it must be quite a way in to the future. So no way that the main Walking Dead series is ending with the walking dead collapsing due to time. That had seemed a possibility with walkers getting more skeletal over the years.

 

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AMC may be forced to follow through on their promise to "reevaluate our activity" in Georgia with The Walking Dead should a new law be approved which would ban abortions after a certain point in pregnancies. Now, Sarah Barnett, president of entertainment networks at AMC Networks, has opened up about the restrictive bill and supports AMC's possible abandoning of their Georgia post.

"I'm very, very glad that our company issued a statement that said if this restrictive legislation goes into law, then we will reconsider our activity in Georgia," Barnett told the Banff World Media Festival (via THR). The sentiment comes after AMC previously released a statement in which they promised to take a close look at the situation and move forward after careful decision based on the outcome of the bills.

"I personally consider this a civil rights issue. If women don't have reproductive autonomy, we can't participate in society. That's my personal perspective," Barnett added. "At this particular moment, I personally feel that any attempt to roll back rights that have been acquired is not good for gender equality."

By the sound of it, Barnett likely hopes the production decision won't reach such a point in the first place. "It really is like a family, with relationships built with people who have worked on the show for a long time," she said of the Georgia community.

“If this highly restrictive legislation goes into effect, we will reevaluate our activity in Georgia,” the AMC Networks company said in a statement. “Similar bills – some even more restrictive – have passed in multiple states and have been challenged. This is likely to be a long and complicated fight and we are watching it all very closely.”

AMC Executive on The Walking Dead Leaving Georgia Following Abortion Laws

 

[Judderman]

As I mentioned on another thread this is not a surprise response from AMC. Hopefully they won’t need to go through with such action.

 

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So, there we have it. The end of the series at issue of #193 . Well done Kirkman, Adlard. Well done. Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!1!!

Just last month, we were calling The Walking Dead #192 “the end of an era,” thanks to a stunning issue (spoilers at that link). But if you thought creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard couldn’t top that twist, here’s another shocker: The Walking Dead comic is ending tomorrow with issue #193.

Yep, that’s right. And here we were, just wondering what Kirkman and company could possibly cook up for issue #200, an issue that we now know will never arrive. As the Hollywood Reporter notes, the much-loved series from Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment—which has been around since 2003, and of course spawned AMC’s hit TV show, which debuted in 2010—the finale has been in the works for a while, with Adlard even creating covers for future issues that were solicited to help keep the secret.

THR quotes Kirkman’s message from the pages of #193, which reads in part:

I hate knowing what’s coming. As a fan, I hate it when I realize I’m in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I’m nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can feel when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel...

The Walking Dead has always been built on surprise. Not knowing what’s going to happen when you turn the page, who’s going to die, how they’re going to die... it’s been essential to the success of this series. It’s been the lifeblood that’s been keeping it going all these years, keeping people engaged. It just felt wrong and against the very nature of this series not to make the actual end as surprising as all the big deaths.

Of course, since THR revealed the news early, it’s quite a different surprise for fans than it would have been had it simply been discovered at the end of the issue, which is available in stores and digitally tomorrow.

Turns Out, The Walking Dead Comic's Most Shocking Death Is Its Own

Den of Geek piece The Walking Dead comics ending with issue #193

 

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Well done AMC!

Following the news of The Walking Dead comics coming to a shocking, abrupt end this week, the network which has adapted to the popular zombie series into a hit TV show has released a statement. The comic series will end with issue #193 which hits shelves in comic book stores on Wednesday but the TV series will continue for the foreseeable future.

“This extraordinary comic created a world that already lives in multiple forms, and in the hearts and minds of millions of fans around the world, and will for many years to come," AMC Networks said in a statement. The comic series ending is not expected to impact the TV series.

The Walking Dead comics ending news dropped on the heels of the issue which finally killed the series' lead character Rick Grimes. Following Rick's demise, Kirkman is offering up a triple-sized issue for the same price as his standard issue to tie up all of the characters' stories, once and for all.

"I hate knowing what's coming," Kirkman wrote in the now-online Letter Hacks section of issue #193. "As a fan, I hate it when I realize I’m in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I’m nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can feel when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel. Some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones are when they’re structured in such a way and paced to perfection so your brain can’t tell if it’s been watching for 15 minutes or 50 minutes ... and when the end comes ... you’re stunned.

"I love long movies for that very reason. You lose track of time because you went in convinced that you’re going to be there for a long time, but the story moves at such an entertaining and engaging pace that by the time the movie’s wrapping up ... you can’t believe it’s already over. Surprise, it’s over! All I’ve ever done, all a creator can really do ... is tailor-make stories to entertain themselves, and hope the audience feels the same way. That’s all I’ve ever been doing ... and it seems to work most of the time."

Robert Kirkman will be at San Diego Comic Con, taking part in a panel of his own and serving as a panelist on The Walking Dead's Hall H panel on Friday, July 19.

AMC Comments on Robert Kirkman Ending The Walking Dead

 

[Judderman]

Wow I'm really look forward to graphic novel compendium 4 to see how it all finishes off. Will be a challenge to avoid spoilers. Comic spoilers must be avoided in the tv threads!

 

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The survivors’ continued conflict against the Whisperers will see The Walking Dead Season 10 unravel more of the trauma, paranoia and PTSD inflicted by the flesh-wearing villains.

“One of the great things from the comic book that we got really excited about, there’s this idea of propaganda and paranoia, and this idea of ‘silence the Whisperers,’ which [creator] Robert Kirkman played really well,” showrunner Angela Kang told EW.

“So there’s definitely a feeling as our group gets into this conflict that keeps building between the Whisperers that’s very different from how the Saviors war played out, where there’s just elements of paranoia but kind of a Cold War feel.”

Daryl (Norman Reedus), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Carol (Melissa McBride) and the others are still feeling the effects of devastating losses that came in the penultimate episode of Season 9, “The Calm Before,” where it was learned Whisperer leader Alpha (Samantha Morton) abducted and then decapitated ten allies, including Carol and King Ezekiel’s (Khary Payton) son Henry (Matt Lintz).

Dealing with these territorial new foes, who disguise themselves as the dead, means lines will be crossed on both sides.

“There’s a lot of brinkmanship and things like that, because the Whisperers are so different. Alpha pulled her big move on our people by being in disguise and sneaking around in the middle of a fair,” Kang said.

“It’s just open for all to see, and somehow nabbing these people. That’s a very different way of operating than any of the other people that they’ve had to deal with, really. So we’ve been having a lot of fun playing with that feel for the season.”

Kang continued, “We’re dealing with a lot of things also to do with people’s trauma, and the idea of what is real or not real. Things having to do with illusion, or just memory breaking, PTSD. So there’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that’s pretty unique to the feel of this season.”

Not only is the Whisperer war more psychological in nature, but unlike Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the survivors unleashing all out war against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors, Daryl and company will be forced to combat their enemies in ways audiences haven’t yet seen on TWD.

“We’re also having a lot of fun with the fact that the last time our people were in a war, it was automatic weapons and gunfire, but we’re just not really in that period of time anymore. So we’re working on some battle stuff that is unlike anything we’ve done on the show, which I’m super-excited about,” Kang said.

“[Director and executive producer Greg Nicotero] has been in rehearsals for some stuff we’re about to shoot that I think is pretty cool. That’s some of the stuff that look-wise, feel-wise is unique to the start of season 10.”

Dealing with this new way of life imposed by the Whisperers comes as TWD undergoes another minor time jump of at least a few months.

“They’ve been living with some of the Whisperers’ rules, and we’ll see that some things have changed and some people have done some unexpected things in the time that has passed to deal with the trauma at the end of last season,” Kang teased.

When hinting at this coming season in April, Kang warned the massive walker herd corralled by Alpha and the Whisperers “plays into the story going forward.”

If TWD borrows a beat from Kirkman’s comic book, the horde signals even more doom and destruction headed Alexandria’s way.

The Walking Dead Season 10 Explores Trauma, Paranoia and PTSD

 

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Over the course of nine season's AMC's The Walking Dead has deviated quite a bit from Robert Kirkman's source material. Carl was killed, Carol survived, Daryl was included -- there have been a ton of changes over the years, but that doesn't mean the show doesn't like to stick to the comics from time to time. The recent Whisperer War was a good example of that consistency, and it looks like there's another story similarity on the way in the upcoming Season 10.

In the comics, Negan eventually got out of prison, and even started to develop a relationship with Rick Grimes. While Rick is currently gone on the show, and Michonne rules over Negan's cell with an iron fist, it seems as though the villain's freedom is imminent.

During an interview with EW, The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang teased that Negan has been in captivity for a bit too long, and that his rescue of Judith in the Season 9 finale may be enough to earn him his freedom.

“We had a whole year with him in his cell,” Kang said, “so I think after his heroic rescue of Judith, people might’ve noticed that when he was in that bed in the infirmary, he was not tied up or cuffed. So we’re dealing with the next stage of what things are for Negan. I think for people who have been wanting us to release the Negan, there will be some satisfaction there.”

At the end of Season 9, a snow storm put the lives of several characters in danger, including Judith Grimes and Daryl's dog. It was Negan who stepped up to the plate and saved them from a certain death, which may cause some to reconsider his life sentence.

The Walking Dead Showrunner Teases Free Negan in Season 10

 

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So they are promising to show the whole deal, including what it was before the apocalypse happened. How are they going to achieve that and what are they going to call it?

 

[REBerg]

So they are promising to show the whole deal, including what it was before the apocalypse happened. How are they going to achieve that and what are they going to call it?

My gut reaction to this was negative.
They went back to the beginning with FTWD. Do I really want to go through all of that again with yet another set of characters?
I don't know. It would have to be exceptionally good.

 

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“It’s gonna be completely different from the other two shows,” TWD chief content officer and spinoff co-creator Scott Gimple said previously. “We’re trying to open up these new worlds of The Walking Dead to show different corners, different tones, different aspects. Hopefully they compliment one another.”

During San Diego Comic-Con, AMC premiered a new synopsis for the series that teased its protagonists growing into heroes and villains.

“There’s a big secret about the Walking Dead universe. All these years we’ve just seen a tiny sliver of the Walking Dead world. There’s a whole lot of world out there,” Gimple said from AMC’s Hall H panel.

“The big secret is that all along, there have been other civilizations that survived the apocalypse. We saw hints of that in Season 7 of The Walking Dead and again in [Fear Season 5 episode] ’The End of Everything,’ and now we’re about to show a lot more of the world in a bunch of different projects.”

Gimple created the spinoff with TWD veteran Matthew Negrete, who will act as showrunner.

The Walking Dead: First Trailer For Third Series Released

All I can AMC is that I'm available now and I'd love for a chance to write some episodes or act as a consultant for the project.

 

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They went back to the beginning with FTWD. Do I really want to go through all of that again with yet another set of characters?
I don't know. It would have to be exceptionally good.

Read the article. It is the whole world, seen probably through of a POV of multiple single characters that are separated by the distances and the Dead. It has been done before in the new BSG and the process can be adapted in the Kirkman's world.

 

[REBerg]

Read the article. It is the whole world, seen probably through of a POV of multiple single characters that are separated by the distances and the Dead. It has been done before in the new BSG and the process can be adapted in the Kirkman's world.

I read it and remain unconvinced.
If the third series is incredibly compelling, it might work. I'm all for recycling, but this may end up being a case of Kirkman beating a truly dead horse.
At some point, even The Walking Dead must die.

 

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At some point, even The Walking Dead must die.

Yeah, I agree or then it has to transform to something new. Kirkman knew this same thing when he finished the series with Rick's death. If they can aim the movies and the end of Fear to the conclusion it's good and the third series should transform the whole world, and it's future towards something positive. It's either that or then they have to accept that all along we were watching a story of how we all died. Nothing wrong in that, and it would be a note higher than where the GoT finished.

 

[REBerg]

I had serious; doubts about FTWD when it began, but the show steadily improved to the point where it surpassed TWD.
I will definitely give the new spinoff a chance. Maybe I'll be wrong again.

 

[Judderman]

CTG, spoilers from the comic again!

 

[Judderman]

Hard to see another series fitting alongside the two existing. I would have thought it would be when one of the other series finishes, but seems not. From the trailer it seems it may be animated?

 

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CTG, spoilers from the comic again!

The spoiler has not changed and it was predicted by so, so many. How it gets there, I don't know. I don't have the issues, I don't know anything about who commits it, but it has been in the net for a while now. Even on this forum. I apologise and I try not to mention it again.

From the trailer it seems it may be animated?

Nope. Those were story boards and matched actor faces to the concept art used to develop the series.

 

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The Walking Dead Universe has “lots of stories” left to tell entering into its second decade, says AMC Networks programming president Sarah Barnett, who adds future entries in the expanding franchise must be “creatively exceptional.” AMC in 2020 will air an unprecedented 42 Sundays of zombie programming premieres: the mothership series, now midway through its tenth season, will premiere the back half of Season 10 and the first half of Season 11, with AMC readying the sixth season of spinoff Fear the Walking Dead and the 10-episode premiere season of second spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

“I think there are lots of stories to be told from this universe,” Barnett told Variety of the franchise. “And I would say about that what I’d say about any of the development at AMC — which is that it has to be creatively exceptional.”

Future shows have a high threshold to live up to: under showrunner Angela Kang, the mothership series has seen its highest-ever critical reception with Seasons 9 and 10. Barnett has “struck a wonderful balance of being supportive of what we’ve been doing well on behalf of the fans and also still challenging us to continue to grow,” said Kang.

TWD chief content officer Scott Gimple, former five-season showrunner on the main series and co-creator of World Beyond, is now developing the franchise's first theatrical features — starring Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes — alongside comic book creator Robert Kirkman. Because of the changing television landscape, and the growing importance of streaming, Gimple will build out the shared universe with other projects not bound by traditional 16-episode season orders.

“Television is changing, and that’s exciting, because we can tell stories in other formats than 16-episode seasons. I think we will continue to do that, and we have plans for that, but we also have plans for shorter length series,” Gimple told The Hollywood Reporter in October. “For mini-series, for things that are like specials. And it’s taking advantage of not only the different stories we can tell, but the different formats we can tell them in.”

Expanding onto the big screen and continuing on the small screen with a diverse offering of content — each with a unique tone — is a means of exploring a variety stories all taking place in a world decimated by a zombie apocalypse. “Because this is such a big world with such different stories, it’d be silly not to do that,” Gimple said.

He continued, “It also means not everything we put out is going to be connected to any of the existing shows. And further, some of it might not even need to go beyond a certain length. We do want to do these smaller things that are completely their own thing, and then do something else. Some stuff could be three episodes, some stuff could be six episodes, some stuff could be 12 or 16 [episodes].”

AMC Boss: The Walking Dead Universe Still Has “Lots of Stories” to Tell

The Walking Dead Universe has “lots of stories” left to tell entering into its second decade, [...]

comicbook.com

 

[Judderman]

Mini series in different locations could be great. Potentially.