As The Walking Dead's First Saga Ends, Carol and Daryl Are Future's Centerpiece Says Scott Gimple

The Walking Dead is reaching a pivotal moment as a franchise. The zombie saga began in 2010 when AMC aired the pilot episode of The Walking Dead on Halloween. In the decade which followed, Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond have stepped in as spinoff shows. Heading into 2021, The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond are gearing up for production on their final seasons. Fear the Walking Dead is heading into a seventh season which could be its last but no one from the series has touched on that yet. The first three major titles in this Walking Dead universe could be closing together, culminating in the highly-anticipated Rick Grimes movie, not unlike what Marvel Studios did with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame before heading into its next saga which launches in January. If you ask Scott Gimple, which we did, there are certainly similarities between The Walking Dead's first saga closing and the shift into new content in 2022 and beyond and Marvel's 23-movie Infinity Saga.

"I think it's a little different. Marvel is... I say this as a fan, I haven't been in on the meetings. But it's like their whole next chapter, it's a whole new thing. It's gonna be all these new faces," Gimple explains. "With Walking Dead, it's a mix. We have the Carol/Daryl show, which in some ways is the centerpiece of what's moving forward. Tales on the other hand is completely different. There isn't even a regular cast to that show. I think there's gonna be a mix of old favorites in various ways, whether they be specials, whether they be mini-series, whether they be on Tales, and then things like Carol and Daryl, and rolled out in a way that we're not over-saturating people with it, but letting people have a steady flow of The Walking Dead in their lives. That's our goal. We want that to be both very different and then some of those familiar faces. There's reinvention of the existing. And then there's the new stuff."

The relationship between Carol and Daryl which has been left open to interpretation by fans since Norman Reedus' character first showed a soft spot for Melissa McBride's quickly became a fan-favorite part of The Walking Dead's story in its early days. Read our full interview with Scott Gimple here.

While things develop behind the scenes, Gimple can't share too much information as some things are uncertain and others are being preserved as surprises. Still, there is no lack of enthusiasm from the man behind the curtain of the zombie world's future. "I think people have a real bright future ahead who love Walking Dead," Gimple said. "They're gonna have a real variety with a steady flow for their lives."

Daryl and Carol are the only characters from The Walking Dead currently guaranteed stories beyond the series finale of The Walking Dead. There is interested in bringing Lauren Cohan into the mix for more with her popular Maggie character, as well as Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan. Meanwhile, Tales of the Walking Dead is going to be bringing in plenty of familiar faces for short stories that have been left untold about their times off screen or before any introduction on the shows which are currently on the network, as well as introducing new characters, locations, and stories. Gimple hopes to see movement on Tales "in the new year," though we shouldn't expect to see episodes in 2021.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond will go into production for its second and final season in early 2021. Fear the Walking Dead will return for the back half of its sixth season following The Walking Dead Season 10C, which begins airing its 6 new episodes in February.

Are there any characters aside from Carol and Daryl you want to see more of after The Walking Dead comes to an end? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram!