The Walking Dead spinoff series Tales of the Walking Dead will have an episode set 35 years into the zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead TV series first premiered in October 2010, and was adapted from the comics of the same name. With the show's immense success, The Walking Dead evolved into a major franchise, which now boasts several spinoff series, including three which are currently in development. The newest spinoff, an anthology series entitled Tales of the Walking Dead, will debut on AMC on August 14, 2022.
Tales of the Walking Dead will consist of six episodes, each following a different character and storyline. Run by Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead writer Channing Powell, the anthology series will introduce brand-new characters to The Walking Dead universe, but will also feature previous fan-favorite characters, such as the story behind Samantha Morton's infamous Walking Dead villain Alpha. While the details of each episode and its characters have yet to be released, the main cast will include Olivia Munn, Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Terry Crews, and The Originals' Daniella Pineda.
In an interview with Collider, Powell revealed that each story in Tales of the Walking Dead will occur during different time periods, with one as far forward in the future as 35 years after the zombie apocalypse began. Powell says that the series will explore things that The Walking Dead hasn't been able to, including stories throughout different parts of the United States in addition to different time periods throughout the apocalypse. Unlike The Walking Dead, Powell says that Tales of the Walking Dead has the ability to go in as many different directions as the writers please. Read Powell's full comment below:
"They're not... No, they take place over... tentatively 35 years into the future. Don't quote me on that, Scott [Gimple] will kill me. But, no, we wanted to go in every direction of the United States that we could go in, and every timeline we could go in."
According to the The Walking Dead timeline, The Walking Dead season 11 will end the show approximately 13 years after the zombie apocalypse began. This means that, even with an approximate date of 35 years into the future, Tales of the Walking Dead will explore humanity in the apocalypse far past the events of the original series. Even in the comics, where the timeline deviates from that of The Walking Dead TV adaptation, creator Robert Kirkman says that the comic series ends approximately 20 years after the beginning of the apocalypse.
Considering that The Walking Dead has become a major franchise, it was only a matter of time before the zombie-ravaged world began to be explored outside of the events in the original series. However, with at least one episode of Tales of the Walking Dead exploring more than three decades into the future, this will mark the first major expansion of the franchise's timeline. With so little else revealed about the content of Tales of the Walking Dead, fans will have to wait until the series' premiere to see just how humanity will be faring 35 years after the zombie apocalypse.
Source: Collider