AMC sure loves their spinoffs. In addition to Better Call Saul, the spinoff of Breaking Bad, AMC is now working on a spinoff to The Walking Dead. Though the plot of it is still somewhat mysterious, at South by Southwest the creator of the comic books revealed a bit more about the timeline of this new show.
We had previously heard that the upcoming spinoff would be a prequel, but creator Robert Kirkman is now saying that isn't quite true. According to Entertainment Weekly, He revealed that it would indeed pick up a bit earlier than The Walking Dead, seeing the early days of the zombie apocalypse unfold a little more than we saw before.
However, Kirkman went on to say that the show wouldn't stay in this time period necessarily. He said he wouldn't define the show as a prequel because not the entirety of the show will take place before The Walking Dead, and it will eventually run parallel with the original show.
So the show is technically a prequel in that it begins earlier than The Walking Dead, but it sounds like a lot of it will really take place at the same time as the original show but from a new perspective, just starting slightly earlier.
The creator said this show will expand more on what's happening in other regions of the United States, and that it will not be based on the comics at all.
Kirkman also noted that the new show won't rely entirely on your knowledge of the original Walking Dead series, saying that it will stand on its own and can be watched by itself as its own experience. But the shows will still connect in some subtle ways, expanding on things in the original series. "So there could be like a thing where, ‘Oh, they encountered a zombie in season 4 in The Walking Dead that could do this and now we know why that was,'" he said.
The Walking Dead spinoff series does not yet have a title, but AMC has already ordered two seasons. The first will premiere this summer with six episodes. It will star Harry Potter star Frank Dillane and Into the Storm's Alycia Debnam Carey, as we previously reported.
In other Walking Dead news, Kirkman discussed the idea of the show eventually coming to an end, according to USA Today. He said that while the series is definitely a long arc and will probably be running for many more years, he knows the story they're telling and where it will eventually end up.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC.
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