AMC is giving The Walking Dead its own holiday special this December. AMC's The Walking Dead, an adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic books of the same name, first premiered on AMC in 2010 and quickly became one of the network's most popular TV shows. The series has been on the air for ten seasons now and has since spawned two spin-offs: Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
While the first season of The Walking Dead was only six episodes long, the following nine seasons have all basically followed the same release schedule. The Walking Dead will usually be on the air from the beginning of October to late November/early December, before going off the air until February. This effectively splits the season up into two halves since The Walking Dead isn't typically the type of show people want to watch over the holidays. That being said, AMC is releasing The Walking Dead Holiday Special this year.
AMC recently announced their holiday line-up for this year. Fans who sign up for their premium streaming service, AMC+, will be treated to several Christmas classics throughout the month of December, but they will also get exclusive access to The Walking Dead Holiday Special. The event will be hosted by Chris Hardwick on December 13 and feature a number of the show's cast members. As of this time, AMC has not announced who exactly will be apart of the Special.
This is the first-ever Holiday Special for the horror series, and The Walking Dead season 10 has also had a weird release schedule. Season 10 ran from October through November 2019 as normal and returned on February 23, 2020 for the season's ninth episode, "Squeeze." Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, fans had to wait six months in between episodes 15 and 16. Now fans have to wait again until sometime in 2021 to watch the rest of the season.
Given the long wait time for the remaining six episodes of The Walking Dead season 10, a Holiday Special half-way through December will hold fans over until 2021. Fans would no doubt rather have an actual episode come December, but potentially seeing Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), or even someone like Emily Kinney (Beth Greene) will be a treat. There are so many talented actors that have come and gone over The Walking Dead's ten seasons that a Holiday Special really could be a worthwhile event.
Source: AMC