Jeffrey Dean Morgan says ‘Isle of the Dead’ will reinvent the franchise

With just three episodes of The Walking Dead left to go, things are heating up as we head to a climactic final confrontation with the Commonwealth. Given this show’s famous lethality you can guarantee some fan favorites won’t be around to see the credits, though given that several have been confirmed for their own spin-off shows we can be fairly sure the big names will survive and the best example would be the recently announced Isle of the Dead,

The announcement confirms that Negan and Maggie will survive the ultimate battle as the upcoming show will see Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan characters dealing with walkers in Manhattan. Fans are hyped, with Morgan responding that the show is going to “reinvent the TWD world as we know it”:

AMC president of entertainment Dan McDermott revealed a little more about Isle of the Dead during its announcement, saying:

“It not only adds another compelling series to this collection, it extends our storytelling around two unforgettable characters fans have grown to love, hate or hate and then love in Maggie and Negan, brilliantly inhabited by Lauren and Jeffrey. It also lets us explore a corner of this universe located on the island of Manhattan, with an iconic skyline that takes on a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of a zombie apocalypse.”

When this airs next year it’ll be just one of the four The Walking Dead spinoffs. Fear the Walking Dead is returning for the seventh season, we’re getting new anthology show Tales of the Walking Dead, and the as-yet-untitled ‘road movie’ show about Norman Reedus’ Daryl and Melissa McBride’s Carol. Somewhere off in the distance is the much-delayed movie trilogy about Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes too, though we haven’t had an update on that for quite a while now.

Expect more announcements as the final season of the core show wraps up. AMC has indicated they see near-limitless potential in The Walking Dead, so the walker apocalypse won’t be resolved anytime soon.

Isle of the Dead will premiere on AMC in 2023.