The Walking Dead’s Potential Return To Original Show’s Episode Count Addressed By Franchise Boss

While its future seems largely focused on smaller spinoffs, Scott M. Gimple teases that The Walking Dead may return to the original show's long-form episode count. Having launched with the direct adaptation of Robert Kirkman's graphic novel of the same name, the post-apocalyptic universe has grown to include six spinoff shows, including the ongoing Dead City and Daryl Dixon. Beyond those, development is said to be underway on other spinoffs, including More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe, which was announced in April 2023, but hasn't gotten an update since.

During an interview with The Direct at Multicon, Gimple was asked about the future of the Walking Dead franchise beyond the current running shows. When asked about whether the franchise will go back to the previously planned movie route, the franchise boss confirmed it was "less likely" to happen, but that there are currently talks about returning to the original show's long-form episode count. See what Gimple said below:

I mean, I would just say different formats... They're always in our minds and, you know, is it a six-hour, is it a two-hour, is it a... my dream would be another 16-hour-a-year series. We're talking about that. Feature films... probably less likely. But different ways that we do the show, we have to do it and we will.

What This Means For The Walking Dead's Future

AMC Is Looking For Another Flagship

In the years since both the mainline show and its first spinoff Fear the Walking Dead came to a close, the franchise has been in an interesting flux. Where some interconnected TV universes, like Law & Order or Star Trek, have always ensured there is a long-form show running concurrently with a shorter spinoff, The Walking Dead has instead shifted towards shows that only run for a handful of episodes each, the longest of the recent installments being the upcoming Dead City season 2, which is set to consist of eight episodes.

Since Daryl Dixon has grown rapidly in viewership since its debut, and Dead City found a solid reception on its 2023 premiere, it seems likely both will continue for at least another couple of seasons each before coming to an end. That being said, with no other confirmed projects in the works, it would make sense for AMC to seek out a new mainline Walking Dead show to carry the franchise forward.

The most likely avenue for a new, long-form show in the universe would be a culmination of the various spinoffs into one project. The Rick and Michonne-focused The Ones Who Live, originally planned as a trilogy of films, ended with them reuniting with their children, but not with the rest of the main characters of the original show, while Dead City and Daryl Dixon have their leads in regions away from Alexandria and the Commonwealth. While it will take overcoming some narrative hurdles, a long-form Walking Dead show could be about all of their journeys back to each other.

The Walking Dead Spinoffs Have Had Shorter Episode Counts Before

Fear The Walking Dead Offers A Road Map For Newer Spinoffs

Fear the Walking Dead, which was a West Coast-set prequel following the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, has already proven that the show's spinoffs can have more substantial episode orders. While the series began with a six-episode first season (as did the flagship show), episode counts ballooned as its popularity grew, eventually reaching capping off at 16 episodes, which was the same as the average number of episodes for seasons of The Walking Dead. All in all, the spinoff prequel ran for eight seasons and a total of 113 episodes, compared to the flagship show's 11 seasons and 177 episodes.

So far, none of the later spinoffs have run as long as Fear the Walking Dead, which could explain why they have gotten such limited episode orders. However, both the flagship show and its first spinoff had hit double-digit episode orders by their second seasons, so it seems that the current plan is to maintain tighter episode orders among the spinoffs, potentially so they do not all overlap with one another on the schedule. Below, see a breakdown of the episode counts of every series in the Walking Dead universe:

The lower episode counts of the newer spinoffs in the Walking Dead universe do reflect the shortening of television seasons in the modern era of streaming and prestige television. For instance, seasons of Netflix's flagship show Stranger Things have ranged between episode counts of eight to nine. However, should the spinoffs continue to explode in popularity, it would make sense to have at least one run longer, so it can continue to draw audiences to AMC for an extended period rather than a span of roughly a month and a half.

Our Take On The Walking Dead Returning To Longer-Episode Seasons

A Fresh Cast Would Be The Best Path Forward

Considering just how drawn-out later seasons of the mainline show began to feel with their 16-24-episode runtimes, I'm honestly a little weary about The Walking Dead returning to a longer-episode count. That being said, if the new show were to shift the focus away from the characters we've seen over the past 15 years, and explore a new side to the post-apocalyptic world, I could very well see the franchise finding new life with another long-form show.