‘The Walking Dead’s Scott Gimple Is Planning More Spinoffs

The Walking Dead executive producer and showrunner Scott M. Gimple is planning to expand creator Robert Kirkman’s undead universe, he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Gimple, who has been promoted to chief content officer of the entire Walking Dead brand for AMC, aims to extend the brand across a variety of platforms following Kirkman’s jump from AMC to Amazon, where Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment struck a massive first-look deal last summer.

Gimple’s new role includes executive producer duties on spinoff Fear The Walking Dead as well as new scripted projects, video games, short form digital series and other platforms.

The plan is to expand the Walking Dead brand through “traditional stuff, non-traditional stuff, stuff people don’t expect,” Gimple tells THR.

“We’re going to have cool new Walking Dead stuff,” he said, adding “we have a bunch of different things in mind.”

“Some things that are really complimentary to the stuff we’re doing now,” Gimple explained, “and some stuff that’s far afield and very different.”

He told THR he’s open to not only further 16-episode spinoffs like Fear, but also smaller series like Flight 462 and Red Machete, in-between-commercial miniseries that delve deeper into the expansive universe.

“Those are two very different ends of the spectrum,” Gimple said.

“We can do cool stuff in both of those spectrums and there’s other stuff that doesn’t quite fit in those descriptions. There are different approaches to how we tell stories and how long we tell them for and the places we can do them. I’m hoping to do a variety of different projects that are probably more in line with what we see on TV but maybe in different rhythms and formats and things like that. We’ll still continue to come out with great digital content but I’m excited about the kind of stuff we can do. But I really am talking about all sides of it and I know we’ll have more to talk about soon on that.”

The EP wouldn’t name any contenders for spinoffs or characters he’d like to see get their own platform, saying only AMC is “experimenting with new ways to do it.”

“We’re seeing different lengths of seasons and different formats — though I’m not talking about a 37-minute series,” Gimple said.

“I’m talking about different ways to tell stories, possibly with characters we know and possibly with characters we don’t. We’re figuring it all out right now but there’s a ton of stuff that I want to dive into. It’s us organizing it and deciding how to do it, how it all works together. We really have a plan that goes into the future. It’s pretty exciting right now.”

According to THR, Gimple’s task will include expanding the Walking Dead world with new narratives as a means to help offset Kirkman’s segue to Amazon. Kirkman’s exit created a need at AMC to appoint a brand ambassador — someone who knew the franchise well — to oversee all things dead.

Starting with season 9, the reigns of Walking Dead showrunner will be passed to producer and writer Angela Kang, who has been with the flagship series since its second season in 2011. Kang will be the series’ fourth showrunner following Gimple and the short-lived reigns of Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.