‘The Walking Dead’ will endure two crippling blows in the upcoming ninth season, as two of its lead actors Andrew Lincoln, who plays front man Rick Grimes, and Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie Rhee, have announced their departures. The series has already seen the deaths of several beloved characters which has driven away some viewers– most notably Glen (Steven Yeun) and Carl (Chandler Riggs). Ratings have plummeted over the past few years as viewers have gotten tired of falling in love with certain characters only to watch them die grisly deaths or even worse, be left dangling as certain characters’ fates go unresolved for several episodes at a stretch. With the departures of Lincoln and Cohan, fans were left to wonder, is this the end of ‘The Walking Dead’? Can the show lose two more crucial figures?
AMC thinks so and announced that they have plans for ‘The Walking Dead’ to shamble on for another decade. CEO Josh Sapan spoke to Forbes regarding the franchise’s future:
“The Walking Dead is a universe…and we have a plan to manage over the next decade, plus. That plan is a careful plan to respect the world of the fans of that world.”
Indeed, though it has never risen to the same level of popularity, there is a ‘TWD’ spin-off ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ which recently replaced its lead actor/character Kim Dickens‘ Madison Clark, with regular ‘TWD”s Lennie James as Morgan Jones. While the earlier seasons of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ were set in the past, originally during the zombie outbreak, it has now apparently jumped forward to coincide with the main show.
Scott M. Gimple worked as the showrunner for ‘TWD’ for years, but recently stepped away to serve as chief creative officer for all things ‘Walking Dead’. As such, he has stated that there are additional companion series in the works. But considering the lukewarm reception that ‘Fear’ has received, will fans accept them?
Are you still a fan? Can you see this series running for an additional ten years?
