The Walking Dead: Maggie and Negan Spinoff Announced by AMC
Lauren Cohan's Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan will star in a new spinoff series set in The Walking Dead Universe. AMC Networks has greenlit the franchise's sixth scripted series, Isle of the Dead, for a six-episode first season set to premiere on AMC and AMC+ in 2023. TWD Universe chief content officer Scott Gimple (Tales of the Walking Dead, the Rick Grimes movies) oversees the spinoff from showrunner Eli Jorné as part of an overall deal with AMC Studios. Jorné, a writer-producer of The Walking Dead and STARZ's Heels, will executive produce with Cohan and Morgan.
"Eli has created a chaotic, beautiful, grimy madhouse of the dead for Negan, Maggie, and fans of the show eager to discover an unseen and insane world of the TWD Universe," Gimple said via AMC. "Lauren and Jeffrey have always been fantastic collaborators and now, we bring that collaboration to the next level with a series that will take these characters to their limits with the world — and each other. All of us are thrilled to take you on an all new, all different TWD epic for the ages."
In Isle of the Dead, the popular Maggie and Negan characters travel together into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror.
"I'm thrilled to partner with Dan McDermott and the team at AMC on the next chapter in The Walking Dead Universe," said Cohan, who has played Maggie Rhee (née Greene) since Season 2 in 2011. "Maggie is very close to my heart and I'm excited to continue her journey against the iconic backdrop of New York City, alongside my friend and collaborator, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Eli Jorné has created something incredibly special and I cannot wait for the fans to see what we have in store for Maggie and Negan."
Said Morgan, who has portrayed Negan since 2016: "I'm delighted that Negan and Maggie's journey continues. It's been such a ride walking in Negan's shoes, I'm beyond excited to continue his journey in New York City with Lauren. Walkers in an urban setting has always been such a cool image, but 5th Avenue, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty? The greatest city in the world?? The backdrop is amazing, but it's the story that Eli Jorné cooked up that is even better. Buckle up folks, Isle of the Dead is going to reinvent the TWD Universe. Huge thank you to Dan McDermott, Scott Gimple and AMC for having us back for more… we simply can't wait."
Spinning out of the eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead concluding later this year on AMC, Isle of the Dead pairs Maggie and Negan after the mission to Meridian in Season 11. The series set in post-apocalyptic Manhattan is the fifth spinoff of The Walking Dead, which first expanded the universe with companion series Fear the Walking Dead in 2015.
A second spinoff, the two-season limited event series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, followed in 2020 and concluded last year. AMC premieres anthology spinoff series Tales of the Walking Dead this summer and an untitled Daryl & Carol spinoff starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride in 2023.
"This is a very big day for the expanding universe we are building around The Walking Dead," said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. "It not only adds another compelling series to this collection, it extends our storytelling around two unforgettable characters fans have grown to love, hate or hate and then love in Maggie and Negan, brilliantly inhabited by Lauren and Jeffrey. It also lets us explore a corner of this universe located on the island of Manhattan, with an iconic skyline that takes on a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of a zombie apocalypse."
The Walking Dead spinoff Isle of the Dead, starring Lauren Cohan as Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, premieres in 2023 on AMC and AMC+.
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