It looks like Tales of the Walking Dead has a surprise in store for fans: a look at what the apocalypse will look like 35 years into the future. This unexpected twist was recently revealed by the spinoff’s showrunner.
The Detail Was Revealed During Comic-Con
During a video interview with Collider at San Diego Comic-Con last week, showrunner Channing Powell, along with actors Terry Crews, Samantha Morton, and Danny Ramirez talked about what we can expect with the upcoming anthology Tales of the Walking Dead.
We’ve seen a couple trailers that have given us a few plot hints, but it was Powell’s words about the timeline of these episodes that really caught the internet’s attention.
When Collider’s Steve Weintraub asked the showrunner if all of the stories in this anthology will take place at the beginning of the apocalypse, her answer was unexpected.
“They take place over… tentatively 35 years into the future. Don’t quote me on that; Scott (M. Gimple) will kill me.”
Sorry, Channing. I just quoted you on that.
So now we have so many more questions. How will zombies look 35 years later? Will there be a new threat that doesn’t involve walkers? Will the main protagonist be a child or grandchild of an original survivor?
Fans Have Theories on How All of This Will Work
Reddit has been doing some theory-crafting of its own as fans speculate on what 35 years after a zombie apocalypse could look like.
“That’d be cool if it ended the way Robert Kirkman was originally going to end the comic. ofc with swapped characters,” Redditor IonHazzikostasIsGod mentioned.
The part of the story they are referring to involves a plotline where Rick gets a statue to honor him at Alexandria, many years into the future.
Redditor Osirisavior noted that they hope the show will give some references to Comic 193.
But some fans are worried about how much this might box in future series and spinoffs, unless the reveal is not expansive. And that’s a really good point.
“They really shouldn’t do jumps so far into the future unless it’s very isolated, it limits what the show can do in the current timeline,” another Redditor commented.
And then, of course, we get the obligatory mic drop comment of the thread:
Here’s What We Know So Far About Tales of the Walking Dead
Tales of the Walking Dead will be coming to AMC and AMC+ on August 14.
The six-episode first season of the series will kick off with the first episode available on both AMC and AMC+, but AMC+ will also include the second episode that first day. Each episode will run an hour and feature a different story in The Walking Dead’s universe.
One example of this is the story of Alpha, played by Samantha Morton. Other confirmed cast members include Terry Crews, Olivia Munn, Anthony Edwards, Parker Posey, Jillian Bell, Poppy Liu, Danny Ramirez, and many more.
Each episode will have its own director, with names like Haifaa al-Mansour, Deborah Kampmeier, and Fear the Walking Dead’s own Ron Underwood taking turns. We list the writers per episode here. The list includes a writer from the World Beyond spinoff.
We also dove in-depth into a recent Tales trailer in our story here. On Reddit, some fans commented that it looks like the show may be attempting Marvel-esque type humor for the new series.
Another trailer was released during Comic-Con.
One fan commented: “This feels completely different from any other walking dead show we’ve gotten so far and I love it.”
Another person wrote, “Nice to see Alpha again! She was an excellent character, very charismatic and disturbing, she deserved more space and more insight!”
“This series, more than any other in the Walking Dead Universe, runs on new voices, perspectives, and ideas — bringing to life stories unlike any we’ve told before,” Gimple said in a press release. “I’m thrilled to be Channing [Powell’s] consigliere, helping in every way I can to make those new visions real for the best fans in TV.”
Want to chat about all things post-apocalyptic? Join our Discord server here. You can also follow us by email here, on Facebook, or Twitter. Oh, and TikTok, too!
