The Walking Dead hasn’t had the easiest time lately, with the show continuing to struggle with declining ratings and controversial storytelling decisions. Despite this, though, AMC still handed out a renewal for season 9 this past weekend, ensuring that we’ve got at least one additional year left of the zombie drama. But what comes after that?
Well, we’ve heard numerous times now that those involved in The Walking Dead hope to do at least 10 seasons, if not more, and at this point it looks likely that they’ll get their wish, but you’ve gotta imagine that the end is in sight. I mean, the cast aren’t getting any younger and with ratings starting to slip, it might be best to go out while the show is still mostly on top. That doesn’t mean that the brand as a whole has to vanish, though. Far from it, in fact.
Already, there’s one spinoff on the air in the form of Fear the Walking Dead and if AMC’s press release announcing season 9 is any indication, it seems as if the network may be planning to do a few more in the future. Though they don’t say that explicitly, the below paragraph does seem to hint at it.
“Current showrunner Scott M. Gimple is being elevated to Chief Content Officer, overseeing the entire Dead television universe, including The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and potential brand extensions on a variety of platforms.”
It’s that last part that has fans speculating. What could these “potential brand extensions,” be? Are they referring to additional spinoffs on television? Or perhaps more ventures via other mediums, like video games, web series or maybe even a movie? We have seen the property dip its toes outside of TV before and even if the show itself comes to an end, AMC won’t just let The Walking Dead die out. It’s far too lucrative of a brand for that to happen.
Chalk this all up as speculation for now, but what we can tell you with absolute certainty is that season 8 of The Walking Dead makes its return on February 25th, by which point we’ll have a better understanding of how AMC plans to incorporate Morgan Jones (Lennie James) into the aforemntioned Fear The Walking Dead. Remember, James is set to exit TWD by the end of season 8, lending AMC creators the chance to explore Morgan’s story soon after he left Rick in Atlanta.
