The Walking Dead anthology spin-off, Tales of the Walking Dead, could include animated and musical episodes. Based on the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, The Walking Dead follows a group of survivors amid the zombie apocalypse. Since its premiere on AMC in 2010, The Walking Dead has consistently been one of the biggest shows on television, though in recent seasons, viewership has seen a dip. Nevertheless, its success has been enough to spawn multiple spin-off shows, thus ensuring the world of The Walking Dead will live on even after the flagship show comes to an end after season 11.
The first spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead, premiered in 2015 and is still ongoing. Like many 2020 shows, its sixth season has faced some setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic but will premiere on AMC this month. October will also see the arrival of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, a two-year limited series taking a more young adult-centered approach to the apocalypse. Beyond those, there are two additional Walking Dead spin-offs in development: One centered on fan favorite characters Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), and Tales of the Walking Dead.
While speaking to The Wrap about the future of the Walking Dead franchise, content head Scott Gimple offered some new information about Tales of the Walking Dead. It was previously reported that each episode would focus on a different character at a different point within the zombie apocalypse, something that Gimple said would help expand what The Walking Dead could look like. To cement that, some of the episode formats could be quite unique. "Sometimes they’re straight horror stories. And sometimes they’re black comedy," Gimple said. "We’ve talked about animation; we’ve talked about a music-driven episode."
At first glance, these concepts don't seem to meld with the world of The Walking Dead, particularly the music-driven idea. The franchise is known for its serious and often grim storylines, and it might feel rather strange to structure a survivalist story around music. However, this could provide an excellent creative challenge for Tales of the Walking Dead, something that a long-running franchise like this could sorely need.
Animation, on the other hand, could be an excellent format for the anthology. Since The Walking Dead originated as a comic book, this could provide the chance to return to the franchise's roots and pay tribute to its first medium. Regardless of what formats it implements, it is clear Tales of the Walking Dead is already thinking outside of the box for its stories. As Gimple said, this could be used to really expand the universe, and it sounds like they're already taking that to heart.
Source: The Wrap