On The Walking Dead, anything can happen. Well…usually. When the show returns this weekend, we now know two very specific things can’t happen and that’s the deaths of Carol and Daryl.
Earlier this month, AMC announced that The Walking Dead would be ending in a few years, but that it would continue with a spin-off focused on the popular characters played by Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus. Which, yes, does mean they are going to survive. And, according to Walking Dead executive producer Scott M. Gimple, that wasn’t an ideal situation.
“Uh, yes. I was,” Gimple told Decider when asked if he was worried about revealing that they survived. “I don’t like spoilers, and I like trying to keep the story to the screen as much as possible. So yeah, that’s a trickier part of it. But announcing the end of The Walking Dead is a bummer, in a lot of ways. And I wanted to be honest…about the story continuing.”
It’ll continue not just with the Carol and Daryl show, but an anthology spinoff show called Tales of the Walking Dead that can fill in some gaps and dive deeper into all the characters, alive and dead, from all the shows.
Carol and Daryl, though, is where the main story is most likely to continue.
“By saying this Daryl and Carol show is continuing, in some ways, you’re saying, ‘It isn’t the complete end of all things Walking Dead,’ Gimple continues. “In some ways, people think that if we hadn’t told them that, that was withholding. Or something like that. And then with Tales, there very well may be an angle of seeing a lot of these current Walking Dead characters — I’m talking about the classic Walking Dead show — on that show. Telling deep-dive stories about them in ways that are continuing on with the story. It was nice to have some good news in there too. And it was nice to be honest and transparent. But who knows? Maybe they’re both walkers in this show.”
We sincerely doubt that, but there’s still lots and lots of time to find out.
The Walking Dead returns this weekend to “end” its current 10th season. Immediately after that, the new The Walking Dead: World Beyond show will debut, joined next week by the return of Fear the Walking Dead for season six.
Then there will be six bonus episodes bridging The Walking Dead seasons 10 and 11, followed by the 11th and final season of the main show. But! That season will be split into two parts and super-sized to 24 episodes. Which means as of Monday, there are 30 more episodes of the main Walking Dead show alone for things to happen to Carol, Daryl, and the gang, with the spinoff likely to air in 2023.
Oh, there’s also a Rick Grimes movie.
So, yes, Carol and Daryl getting a spinoff is a spoiler. But what situation might they be in after 30-plus more episodes? It could be anything.
Head over to Decider to read much more on all of that from Gimple.
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