Maggie and Negan Spinoff: The Walking Dead Fans React to Isle of the Dead

By Cameron Bonomolo - March 7, 2022 07:15 pm EST

"What the f***?" So say The Walking Dead fans about Isle of the Dead, a spinoff following Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and nemesis Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to post-apocalyptic Manhattan. AMC Networks has greenlit the spinoff from TWD Universe chief content officer Scott Gimple and executive producer Eli Jorné (Season 10 of The Walking Dead), who will showrun the series set in a zombie-overrun New York City. Isle of the Dead is the fifth television spinoff of the flagship AMC zombie drama and is set to premiere in 2023, the same year Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride ride off on their own adventure in the untitled Daryl & Carol series.

"Isle of the Dead envisions the popular Maggie and Negan characters traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland," reads the synopsis revealed by AMC. "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."

Negan widowed the then-pregnant Maggie when the then-Savior leader turned "vampire bat" Lucille on her husband, Glenn (Steven Yeun), in the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead. Nearly a decade later in-universe, Maggie and Negan are forced to work together to save a starving Alexandria in Season 11. Negan parted ways with Maggie and went into self-exile in "No Other Way," but Negan will return with a new group in March 20 episode "Warlords."

😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/3bAMGpd4wZ
— ❄️ Dmitriy ❄️ (@SimmerDmitriy) March 7, 2022

The six-episode first season of Isle of the Dead will take Maggie and Negan "to their limits with the world — and each other," teased Gimple, who executive produces with Cohan and Morgan.

Jorné 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."

"Did we forget how Negan brutally murdered Maggie's husband with a bat?" one fan tweeted in response to the news. Reads another tweet reacting to the spinoff, "If this isn't a Negan vs. Maggie plot, I'm not sure I will be able to buy into this."

See more reactions below:

From @yassiesokoye86

https://t.co/Xjm3gqVKBE pic.twitter.com/rgnajcjOmn
— Yassie (Fan account I guess) (@yassiesokoye86) March 7, 2022

From @ohyouknow99

Love this!! I can’t wait to see what they have planned for these two. #twd #TWDFamily #TheWalkingDead https://t.co/sRH1QM8WYz
— seanathon82 (@ohyouknow99) March 7, 2022

From @ntl_enty

last time i watched The Walking Dead, Negan bludgeoned Maggie's baby's father's head in until his eye fell out https://t.co/8950Se8YyD
— n; enty (@ntl_enty) March 7, 2022

From @TWalkingDWorld

I’m all for the spin-off, but if Maggie & Negan kiss we’re gonna have a problem pic.twitter.com/bishIJNwkZ
— The Walking Dead World (@TWalkingDWorld) March 7, 2022

From @BensRickGrimes

Why would Maggie leave:
hilltop.
alexandria.
Her entire family (I swear if hershel doesn't go)
to go to new York WITH NEGAN?
they gotta do some good ass explaining with this. https://t.co/1mevkmIkYW
— Ben (@BensRickGrimes) March 7, 2022

From @dixonsgreene

ur telling me maggie is going off to new york with negan… the man that MURDERED her husband and left her son fatherless pic.twitter.com/10iVYEyXrP
— cait (@dixonsgreene) March 7, 2022

From @sapphicohan

Reacting to maggie and negan's spinoff:

negan stans maggie stans pic.twitter.com/SuNWlQQfND
— angie (@sapphicohan) March 7, 2022

From @drjescn

maggie negan and hershel in 2023 pic.twitter.com/UF9JlxLUsc
— . (@drjescn) March 7, 2022

From @twdnwh

maggie stans and negan antis seeing the negan/maggie spin off announcement pic.twitter.com/9QjAVxPWVN
— dani 🔜 fandemic/senoia (@twdnwh) March 7, 2022

From @trips2saturn

Did we forget how negan brutally murdered maggie’s husband with a bat https://t.co/c2KrgYePRQ
— اري (@trips2saturn) March 7, 2022

From @RheeEspinosa

They could've given Maggie a spin off show of her own, or with literally any other character but they chose Negan??? I genuinely don't see how this is going to work, ya'll really going to put Maggie in a whole spin off show with that man... of all characters... pic.twitter.com/7qaeIbRE21
— Liam (@RheeEspinosa) March 7, 2022

From @NeganStreet

Negan and Maggie leaving together it’s the best idea ever. Like the tension, drama, suspense, the plot twists etc is going to be amazing. People complaining, haven’t you guys seen enemies working together??? It’s fucking fantastic
— Leo (@NeganStreet) March 7, 2022

From @cocosrosita

i’m not even THAT mad about the idea. i think it’s dumb & a huge disrespect to maggies character, but i am intrigued of what it entails & leads too. that being said, the fact that now maggie & negan are both CONFIRMED safe for the rest of the show is so disappointing pic.twitter.com/3iUPMn402Z
— tom (@cocosrosita) March 7, 2022

From @ricksIincoln

when will walking dead make maggie’s character more than just about the her and negan bs? like maggie can never have a proper arc without negan being somehow involved? give maggie her OWN spin-off.
— sarah loves rick (@ricksIincoln) March 7, 2022

From @jaaryls

i just woke up and read about the maggie and negan spin-off news pic.twitter.com/hKz3YhL52l
— rachel (@jaaryls) March 7, 2022

From @fftcocoon

Glenn's reaction upon hearing of the Negan/Maggie spinoff... #IsleOfTheDead 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/sX248mgg7k
— freefromthecocoon #FulltimeMcBrideSimp #TeamCaryl (@fftcocoon) March 7, 2022

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+.

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter and @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.