The Walking Dead Exec Teases Reunion Crossover to Unite All the Spinoff Shows (Exclusive)

The Walking Dead Universe is headed for its own Avengers-style event, according to Scott Gimple. 

Gimple was recently doing the press junket for the new Walking Dead spinoff series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which will catch fans up with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), after Rick vanished and Michonne went to look for him, in the later seasons of The Walking Dead main series. There's been a lot of speculation about how the limited series will end – with Rick and Michonne happily reunited, or one – or both – of them ending up dead. If they are, indeed, 'the ones who live,' the Walking Dead fans are going to want to see Rick and MIchonne reconnect with their daughter Judith, son Rick Jr., and the rest of the survivors of Alexandria and the other communities. 

Scott Gimple Teases Walking Dead Universe Crossover Event

"Well I don't want to give too much away on this, but I will say that they cool thing about all these [shows] is what you were referring to before: you don't have to see any of these [shows] to watch any of these [shows]. But, if you are watching them all, you get little rewards that you might not have noticed, and I want to keep doing that. So yes, this story does potentially flow into other stories – and certainly, my overall hopes and dreams are to pull everything together at some point. Whether temporarily, or on more of a long-term basis."

At this point, there have been seven TV shows in The Walking Dead franchise: 

1. The Walking Dead
2. Fear the Walking Dead
3. The Walking Dead: World Beyond
4. Tales of the Walking Dead
5. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
6. The Walking Dead: Dead City
7. The Walking Ded: The Ones Who Live

Obviously, fans are hoping to see about five of the shows brought together into some kind of larger crossover event – the two obvious exclusions being The Walking Dead: World Beyond and Tales of the Walking Dead. That's not to say those two series don't have characters or storylines that Gimple could mine for a crossover event – but it's not where the overwhelming majority of fan interest lies. 

Main Walking Dead series characters like Morgan Jones (Lennie James), Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Rick, and Michonne have all been on their own respective journeys since breaking off from the Alexandria / Hilltop communities. All of them have been personally transformed and had their view of the world (and those who may be controlling) altered. Seeing them come back together (the toughest survivors and their allies) would indeed be THE next even in TWD series to get viewers back in – especially if The Ones Who Live gets that momentum started. 

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will premiere on February 25th, on AMC and AMC+.