The Walking Dead is an American zombie apocalypse media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on a number of interconnected television series based on the comic book of the same name. Set in the same fictional universe, the franchise has developed with crossover plot elements, settings, and characters that span five live-action television series, with three additional television series in various stages of production, as well as eight web series that tie into the first two television series. The series all air on AMC and AMC+.
The comic book was adapted into the first television series, which debuted in 2010. It was followed by the spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead in 2015. The franchise further expanded in 2020 with the spin-off series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and an anthology series titled Tales of the Walking Dead in 2022. By 2022, three new spin-offs were announced for main The Walking Dead characters: The Walking Dead: Dead City focusing on Negan and Maggie, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon focusing on Daryl, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live focusing on Rick and Michonne spin-off series that was originally a trilogy of scrapped films.
Actors who have appeared in multiple series and web series include Andrew Lincoln, Lennie James, Melissa McBride, Tom Payne, Pollyanna McIntosh, Austin Amelio, Christine Evangelista, Noah Emmerich, Michelle Ang, Brendan Meyer, Nick Stahl, Maggie Grace, John Glover, Jeff Kober, Scarlett Blum, Samantha Morton, Keisha Tillis, Adrian Kali Turner, Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Steven Ogg, Norman Reedus, and Danai Gurira.
Development
In January 2010, AMC ordered a pilot for The Walking Dead, based on the comic book of the same name and developed by Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd. Andrew Lincoln was cast as Rick Grimes. In September 2013, it was announced that Robert Kirkman, creator of the original comic book, Hurd, and Dave Alpert would be creating a companion spin-off television series featuring a new set of characters, later titled as Fear the Walking Dead. The series would then shift focus from being a prequel to run concurrently with the original series by having Lennie James being promoted to the main cast of Fear, reprising his role as Morgan Jones, after being a guest star on the original series thus also marking the first crossover within the franchise. The second crossover was Austin Amelio reprising his role as the reformed Saviour Dwight in the fifth season.
In July 2018, Scott M. Gimple announced a second spin-off series at San Diego Comic-Con which was later given a 10-episode order and the working title Monument before being revealed as The Walking Dead: World Beyond which would only run for two seasons. The second season featured the franchise's third crossover with Pollyanna McIntosh reprising her role as Jadis from The Walking Dead. In November, Gimple announced that a trilogy of The Walking Dead films, revolving around Rick with Lincoln reprising his role, were in development by AMC Original Films. James expressed interest in joining the film while McIntosh had teased her character Jadis in being in the film.
In September 2020, an anthology series was announced from Gimple which was greenlit October 2021, and titled Tales of the Walking Dead which would focus on new and old characters. Throughout 2022, multiple projects were announced or reworked such as The Walking Dead: Dead City, the first of the few spin-offs coming out in 2023 focusing on Maggie Greene and Negan and was originally titled Isle of the Dead; Daryl Dixon, originally a spin-off about the titular character and Carol Peletier which shifted focus to Daryl due to logistical reasons by the latter's actor Melissa McBride; and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which was originally the trilogy of films announced in 2019 that was reworked into a miniseries. The Ones Who Live was originally titled Rick & Michonne, before being retitled to its current title. In an interview with AMC, Gimple said that these spin-offs are some of many to come and that they are working on more limited series and spin-offs but aren't as urgent right now.
Television series
The Walking Dead (2010–2022)