Old Characters Could Return on Tales of the Walking Dead

The series finale of The Walking Dead was not the end of The Walking Dead. Characters and stories that started on the mothership show will continue in spin-offs following Daryl Dixon to France, Maggie and Negan to New York City, and Rick Grimes and Michonne to another new corner of the Walking Dead Universe. One more destination is Tales of the Walking Dead, the episodic anthology series that fleshed out the origin tale of the Whisperer Alpha (Samantha Morton). There were hints that more familiar fan favorites would return, but five of six episodes focused on original characters played by franchise newcomers, including Terry Crews, Olivia Munn, Parker Posey, Danny Ramirez, and Anthony Edwards.

According to AMC’s Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, who co-created Tales with showrunner Channing Powell, Alpha wasn’t the only flagship character planned to appear on the anthology spin-off. 

“I’m hoping these are the first stories and characters we explore, and I really hope we do more,” Gimple told the AMC Blog of the mothership spin-offs focused on Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Negan, and Daryl. “I will say that for Tales of The Walking Dead, my plan was to have a lot more of the old characters on there.”

Gimple continued: “I hope we get to do that eventually and I really, really do want to get into these other characters and other mythologies and other situations, so I’m hoping these are the first.” While the focus is on the three Walking Dead spin-offs slated to premiere in 2023, Gimple said, there is potential to tell new tales with old characters in “more Tales episodes or limited series or spin-offs.” 

The first season of Tales told six self-contained stories, each offering their own tone and perspective — like Evie and Joe’s zombie apocalypse road trip or Blair and Gina’s psychological time loop episode. 

“We entertained a couple [of] stories dealing with flagship show characters,” Tales showrunner and Dee/Alpha episode writer Powell previously told Deadline, explaining the Alpha origin story “happened to be something that I had put a lot of thought into previous to beginning Tales.”

Michael Cudlitz, who played Sergeant Abraham Ford on The Walking Dead, has hinted at an Abe prequel, and Ryan Hurst has teased his own prequel unmasking Whisperer Beta’s origins story. AMC has yet to renew Tales of the Walking Dead for Season 2.

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