The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Release Date Set With Electrifying First Minutes

Maggie and Negan are back in the New York groove. Two years have passed since we last saw Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s enemies-turned-allies-turned-enemies in the pitch-black concrete jungle of New York City, when they traveled together into zombie-plagued Manhattan to rescue Maggie’s son Hershel (Logan Kim). After setting a nebulous 2025 release date, AMC announced on Tuesday that The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 will premiere Sunday, May 4, at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

In addition to the premiere date, AMC released the opening minutes of the eight-episode season, which you can watch below.

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Set to the tune of Hello’s “New York Groove,” the first two minutes show the Burazi — the Manhattan-based gang headed by the Croat (Željko Ivanek), bankrolled by The Dama (Lisa Emery), and which recruited the leather-jacketed Negan (Morgan) for a brewing gang war — using a reinforced dump truck to collect the rotting denizens still roaming the streets.

They then feed the corpses into tanks to produce energy sourced from the island’s most abundant natural resource: death. By using the methane released as bodies break down, and then turning that gas into liquid fuel, the Croat can generate electricity — enough to turn the lights back on in the City That Never Sleeps.

According to the synopsis for Dead City season 2, “In the growing war for control of Manhattan, Maggie and Negan find themselves trapped on opposite sides. As their paths intertwine, they come to see that the way out for both is more complicated and harrowing than they ever imagined.”

Along with Cohan and Morgan reprising their roles from The Walking Dead, returning cast members include Ivanek as the Croat, Emery as The Dama, Kim as Hershel Greene, Gaius Charles as Marshal Perlie Armstrong, and Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon as Ginny. Dascha Polanco (Orange Is the New Black) has been cast as new character named Lucia Narvaez, and Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy) as rival gang leader Bruegel.

Series creator Eli Jorné, who has been a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead for multiple seasons, returns as showrunner and executive producer on the series. The executive producers are The Walking Dead Universe chief content officer Scott M. Gimple (The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live), Cohan, Morgan, Brian Bockrath (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon), Michael Satrazemis (Fear the Walking Dead), and Colin Walsh (NOS4A2).

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1 is streaming now on AMC+, and season 2 premieres May 4.