Given the enormous ratings the show enjoys in the US and the fervent following it has in other countries, it’s perhaps not a surprise to learn that American cable channel AMC is now developing a “companion series” – in common parlance, a spin-off – to zombie comic book-based horror drama The Walking Dead.
The show has been a success since its premiere, but grew even further in terms of viewership last year. Now comic’s creator Robert Kirkman and executive producer Gale Anne Hurd and Dave Alpert are coming up with ideas to explore a different nook and cranny of Kirkman’s world in what is described by AMC bosses as a “no-brainer” of an idea. No-brainer! Because zombies, right? Yeah, we groaned too.
So far, all we really know about the new show is that it’ll dig into a new part of the Walking Dead universe, not so closely linked to the comic book source, which will offer even greater freedom. So while characters such as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) or Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) could conceivably show up, it’s much less likely.
“After 10 years of writing the comic book series and being so close to the debut of our fourth, and in my opinion, best season of the TV series, I couldn’t be more thrilled about getting the chance to create a new corner of The Walking Dead universe,” Kirkman says in a statement picked up by Variety. The opportunity to make a show that isn’t tethered by the events of the comic book, and is truly a blank page, has set my creativity racing.”
All being well, the new show should be on the air in 2015. AMC is clearly looking to keep its big cash cows mooing - the Dead spin-off news arrives chomping at the heels of word that the Breaking Bad-birthed Saul Goodman show is creeping closer to reality.