The Walking Dead Considering Animated Episodes, More Current Character Spinoffs

Within the considerations for spinoffs of The Walking Dead as the main series nears its true finale, chief content officer Scott Gimple reveals that the AMC zombie saga might continue in animated form. There are guaranteed spinoffs in the form of a Carol and Daryl series and Tales of the Walking Dead. With Tales, the franchise will introduce new characters and revisit familiar faces for short, episodic arcs. With the new series which brings a whole new storytelling format to the AMC franchise, Gimple suggests that animated episodes are certainly on the table and actually a goal.

"I will say that one thing I'm looking at hard is animation," Gimple tells THR. "I mean, [Robert Kirkman, whose comic book Invincible is in production as an animated hourlong drama at Amazon] has a lot of talent around that, so that's one-stop shopping for me. [World Beyond co-creator Matt Negrete] and I actually come from animation. We worked initially together in animation back in the day. And then we also went to college together. … But I mean, Invincible is going to be a really interesting thing to see. Hour long animation? And the comic is fun, but it's not a comedy and it gets super dark and dramatic, regularly. So I can't wait for that. And Kirkman might lead the way on that too. It may lead us right back to a Walking Dead animated series."

As the franchise continues to expand, with Fear the Walking Dead having recently launched it sixth season and The Walking Dead: World Beyond in the midst of 2-season, 20-episode run, Gimple has his eyes open for more fresh opportunities, expansions, and cohesion. This might be the return of familiar faces down the road.

"It's actually super tricky for a couple of people who have been doing 16 episodes a season. Even 10 episodes a season was tricky. And this is tricky, but it's a very cool and different challenge that we've had," Gimple explains. "And then, no pun intended, but beyond that, already with World Beyond, whether it be certain things that we refer to, whether it be certain characters, whether it even be overall, what's cool about Tales of the Walking Dead is there's so many stories that have nothing to do and will never have anything to do with anything we've seen on any of the shows. But on the other hand, there will be characters from the past, from the shows, there'll be characters from the shows present. There will, I hope to be in some ways, extensions of the current stories. That in some ways that we can continue stories. Continue some stories of The Walking Dead, some characters in the Walking Dead, beyond Daryl and Carol. And same for World Beyond."

The Walking Dead: World Beyond airs Sundays at 10pm ET, following new episodes of Fear the Walking Dead at 9pm ET on AMC. The Walking Dead will return for 6 more episodes of Season 10 in the Spring. The 11th and final season of The Walking Dead will begin airing in the Fall of 2021.