The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 is next on the schedule, and will be swiftly followed by Daryl Dixon season 3, with both spinoffs confirmed to arrive in 2025. What comes next remains a mystery. With no new shows announced and future seasons of existing spinoffs not yet green-lit, The Walking Dead currently has nothing lined up - publicly, at least - for 2026, marking a concerning shift compared to the days when it felt like a new project was entering development every other week. Assuming AMC's zombie apocalypse continues into 2026, however, this is the project that needs to happen next.
The Walking Dead's Next Project Must Be A Crossover
The Walking Dead Needs All Shows To Unite In 2026
The Walking Dead's next project after Daryl Dixon season 3 should take the form of a crossover event that brings together characters from across the franchise. The amount of teases, hints, and unresolved stories accumulated from The Walking Dead's various shows has reached a tipping point that can no longer be ignored. Resolution is needed, and the best way to do that is through a crossover that incorporates the most important characters from each show.
The Walking Dead season 11 mentioned a new villain group called Designation 2 that has yet to be formally introduced, while also raising questions over the arrival (or, indeed, the return) of zombie variants. Fear the Walking Dead's ending set up Morgan returning to the main group, with other survivors like Madison and Alicia Clark potentially joining him at Alexandria. World Beyond dropped groundbreaking revelations about how The Walking Dead's zombie outbreak started, so must now explain what Primrose Team is, why the virus was developed, and whether the Bennett family's fungi weapon can end the undead for good.
Daryl Dixon still needs a Rick Grimes reunion and resolution over his teased romance with Connie, the "PPP" mystery present in both the main show and Tales of the Walking Dead needs addressing, and The Ones Who Live revealed the CRM's scientific prediction that humanity only has 14 years left to survive - a huge bombshell that affects everyone in The Walking Dead's universe.
The Walking Dead's Crossover Clues Are Hurting The Individual Spinoffs
Too Many Teases In The Walking Dead Have Been Wasted
Each of The Walking Dead's various TV shows brings something worthwhile to the franchise, but the overall shared universe suffers from a feeling of disconnection. Thus far, a clue or tease in one show has generally been ignored by the next. After Fear the Walking Dead ended with Morgan resolving to seek out Rick Grimes, it was widely believed that Lennie James' character would be involved in The Ones Who Live. That prediction was ultimately disproved. When World Beyond revealed the zombie outbreak began in France, it seemed that Daryl Dixon being set in France would mean tackling the fallout of that massive reveal. This prediction was also proved wrong.
The list of similar examples goes on - instances where one show in The Walking Dead's arsenal readies a bullet that the next release simply decides not to fire. It often feels like different areas of The Walking Dead aren't communicating, but the entire purpose of turning a franchise into a shared universe - which is undoubtedly what AMC's "The Walking Dead Universe" presents itself as - is crafting those interconnected stories and allowing viewers to invest in an expansive story told across multiple different projects.
The sooner The Walking Dead pushes ahead with its crossover plans and fires off all the narrative rounds previous spinoffs opted not to, the sooner those spinoffs can thrive in isolation without being hampered by false expectations and unresolved hints. As an example, Gabriel's cameo in The Ones Who Live would have packed way more punch if The Walking Dead hadn't already planted the seed that Morgan would appear instead.
There Are No More Obvious Spinoffs From The Walking Dead's Main Show
Where Would The Walking Dead's Next Spinoff Star Even Come From?
Without viable alternatives for new shows, The Walking Dead's best bet for 2026 would be a return to the ensemble format that made the series famous in the first place. The crossover could then be used as a launchpad for a new generation of survivors that forms the basis of a fresh show.
What Would Happen To Dead City, Daryl Dixon & The Ones Who Live?
A Walking Dead crossover happening in 2026 would not hinder the development of AMC's existing spinoffs in any measurable way. With Dead City season 2 chronicling Maggie's mission to rescue Negan, that particular project already feels like an isolated two-part narrative, negating the need for season 3 to happen at all. Even if Daryl and Carol return home to take part in 2026's crossover after Daryl Dixon season 3, they could still set off on another adventure thereafter, meaning Daryl Dixon season 4 would remain on the table.
A 2026 crossover could only be considered a positive thing.
In terms of The Walking Dead's existing spinoffs, therefore, a 2026 crossover could only be considered a positive thing. No plans or story arcs would need to be scrapped in order for the big team-up to transpire, and as a bonus, any future seasons of Dead City, Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live would be liberated by the clean slate a crossover would create.
