The Walking Dead Spinoff Isle of the Dead Casts Third Lead
The Walking Dead spinoff starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan has cast Gaius Charles as its third lead. The Grey's Anatomy alum, whose credits include roles on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and TV's Taken, will join AMC's Walking Dead Universe as Izaak in Isle of the Dead. In March, AMC Networks officially greenlit the New York City-set spinoff teaming Maggie (Cohan) and Negan (Morgan) sometime after the events of the final season of The Walking Dead. Deadline first reported Charles' leading role.
Deadline describes Izaak as "confident, ruthless, and unyielding in the pursuit of what he believes is justice, with the force of his will and his menace. Izaak enjoys his work and intersperses humor with the terror he incites. This is a family man, devoted to building a safe world for his wife and daughters. His journey unearths a loss he is haunted by. He has patience and resilience and walks rather than runs from his mistakes."
The Walking Dead writer and Heels producer Eli Jorné serves as showrunner and executive producer of the spinoff overseen by TWDU chief content officer Scott Gimple. Announced as a six-episode first season, Isle of the Dead is expected to begin production this summer in New York for a planned 2023 premiere on AMC and AMC+.
Charles is best known for his roles as running back Brian 'Smash' Williams on Friday Night Lights and Dr. Shane Ross on Grey's Anatomy. His other credits include episodes of NCIS, God Friended Me, Roswell, New Mexico, and the rebooted The Wonder Years.
In Isle of the Dead, Maggie and Negan characters travel 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.
AMC continues to develop the untitled Daryl Dixon spinoff starring Norman Reedus, now a solo vehicle after the departure of co-star Melissa McBride. An episodic anthology spinoff, Tales of the Walking Dead, will air its first six episodes this summer on AMC and AMC+.
The Walking Dead spinoff Isle of the Dead, starring Lauren Cohan as Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, is scheduled to premiere in 2023.
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