Comic book creator Robert Kirkman believes that AMC may take The Walking Dead franchise globally in the future. The network's flagship zombie drama premiered in 2010, based on the comic book series of the same name by Kirkman and originally developed for television by acclaimed filmmaker Frank Darabont. Although the series has had its ups and downs over the years, it remains one of the most-watched TV shows on the air - that's why AMC pursued a spinoff in 2015.
After dominating in the ratings for several years, The Walking Dead received its first companion series in 2015: Fear the Walking Dead. In addition to briefly showcasing society's collapse at the start of the zombie outbreak, the new series takes place primarily on the west coast of the United States to differentiate itself from the main series. Meanwhile, The Walking Dead takes place on the east coast; it's currently set in Virginia (after originally starting in Georgia). While audiences have a general understanding of what happened to the United States (as well as parts of Mexico) after the zombie outbreak began, not much is known about the rest of the world. But that's something that may change down the line.
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In a recent Q&A session on Tumblr, Robert Kirkman briefly discussed The Walking Dead comic books as well as the TV show, including whether or not they will start to explore other regions and countries to see how other people are faring in this post-apocalyptic world. While Kirkman didn't share any specifics, he did say that it's something that has been discussed: "It’s something we’ve discussed from time to time, and we have seen a bit of Mexico in Fear The Walking Dead. I don’t really plan to expand things in the comic side of things ever, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually do something internationally in the TV space."
Although Kirkman opposes the idea of expanding The Walking Dead comics internationally, at least it's something that the show's producers (including himself) are opened to doing on the small screen. Given that parts of Mexico have already been introduced, Fear the Walking Dead could one day attempt to show what happened to Canada before making the jump overseas. North America may be the prime audience for AMC, but the zombie outbreak is clearly a global issue in the franchise, so it'll be interesting to see what's happened to the rest of the world. That's arguably what made the World War Z movie (and book) compelling.
Since AMC is planning more Walking Dead spinoffs, perhaps one of those will center on a group of characters in a country that's not in North America. Anything's possible with spinoff or companion series since those aren't beholden to any pre-established source material. If that's not in the cards, then at least characters from the current shows can break off and explore other regions. That would be a great way to expand the franchise, showcase the zombie outbreak in the rest of the work, and hook in viewers on a new show by using pre-existing characters.
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The Walking Dead continues Sunday, March 18 with "The Key" on AMC.
Source: Robert Kirkman