The Walking Dead: World Beyond Has Hopeful Tone and Humor

The younger cast of The Walking Dead: World Beyond makes its tone “hopeful and warm,” and “there’s humor” in the spinoff created by Scott Gimple and Matthew Negrete, according to star Julia Ormond. The actress previously said World Beyond has an “OK, boomers” vibe as its main ensemble — teens Hope (Alexa Mansour), Iris (Aliyah Royale), Elton (Nicolas Cantu), and Silas (Hal Cumpston), who all grew up in the wake of the zombie apocalypse now in its tenth year — set out to “save the world” when they journey beyond the “formidable society” led by Ormond’s Elizabeth, a high-ranking member of the CRM organization.

“This is a finely tuned machine, so it’s nice and relaxed. It’s really fun,” Ormond told the AMC Blog when asked to describe the vibe on set. “It’s always great working with young people. It’s raw and open. There’s something endearing and open about it that makes you want to nurture it. There is something about the children and their future. There is something about being a parent in these circumstances and to exist within very real limitations of what they can and cannot to. You have to have a really healthy dose of tough love, that can often feel unhealthy for the people experiencing it.”

“The tone is really helpful, too,” she added. “There’s humor in it.”

Ormond, a veteran actress whose credits include Mad Men and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, was drawn to the zombie drama because of its “great writing.”

“They seemed to have really nailed the tone. It seemed to be really timely — maybe even more timely now than when the [original] show first started,” Ormond said. “There’s a level of commitment in the playing that I really find heartwarming. It makes this show work. It makes it hopeful and warm. I was really excited to join the cast.”

Previously released colorful character posters hinted World Beyond will offer a tone different from The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, and Gimple — who oversees the entire TWD Universe in his role as chief content officer — intends to have every project in that shared universe be “as different from one another as possible.”

“We have to take risks. That’s serving the audience, if you’re taking risks,” Gimple previously told Marketplace. “Are we pushing harder, are we trying to make these shows as different from one another as possible? Are we trying to make these movies different from the shows? Are we offering the audience the very reason to have a universe, which is a varied slate of stories?”

The Walking Dead: World Beyond is expected to premiere on AMC in April. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.