The Walking Dead's Return Is Late

It’s always been the case that TV networks keep their most popular and profitable shows on the air for as long as possible, usually leading to diminishing returns and a decline in quality. But these days, even that’s not enough. It’s not enough for Amazon to stretch The Boys out to five seasons, or for HBO to drag out Game of Thrones for eight seasons, or for AMC to keep The Walking Dead going for a whopping 11 seasons.

Now, after the flagship show ends (and sometimes even before it ends), it becomes a cinematic universe and gets spun off with prequels, sequels, and sidequels. The Boys was followed by Gen V and Vought Rising; Game of Thrones was followed by House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms; and The Walking Dead was followed by all kinds: Fear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

While it’s been nice to see Daryl and Carol off on a side adventure, and Rick and Michonne off on a side adventure, and Maggie and Negan off on a side adventure, the real hook of The Walking Dead was its ensemble dynamic. Seeing all these actors bounce off each other in a sprawling ensemble cast — Andrew Lincoln bantering with Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride debating ethics with Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan turning every head in every room — was an absolute delight, and if The Walking Dead is going to do everything but that, then what’s the point of keeping it going?

At the height of its powers, The Walking Dead was a really compelling soap opera that happened to contain zombies. But with its many spinoffs keeping all the characters separate from each other, it’s starting to feel more like the Marvel Cinematic Universe at its worst.

The Walking Dead Has Been Setting Up A Crossover For Years

The actual ending of The Walking Dead was a huge disappointment, because after more than a decade of buildup, it wasn’t interested in providing us with any closure; it was more focused on setting everyone up for their spinoffs. Rather than tying up the loose ends, it leaves fresh loose ends for the spinoffs to pick up. Will Rick be reunited with Michonne? Will Daryl be okay on his own? Can Maggie and Negan ever bury the hatchet? Rather than resolving this stuff in The Walking Dead proper, the writers left it up to The Ones Who Live and Daryl Dixon and Dead City to pick up those threads and keep milking the cash cow.

But, as those spinoffs have gone on, they’ve started to go the other way, setting the stage for a reunion bringing all those characters back together. Carol flew out and joined Daryl in his show, and there was a hint that they could get back in touch with Rick. These teases still haven’t amounted to anything; we’ve seen individual crossovers, like Carol’s team-up with Daryl and Michonne’s quest to save Rick from his captors, but The Walking Dead is still a dismantled car, with different disembodied parts spread out across the front lawn.

Even The Walking Dead’s Showrunner Has Discussed Crossover Hopes

Maggie and Negan in The Walking Dead Dead City

The Walking Dead’s own producers and showrunners have occasionally teased the possibility of a crossover between the spinoffs, bringing separated characters back together. Most recently, Greg Nicotero, a director and executive producer who’s been working on The Walking Dead franchise since its long-forgotten heyday, said that he and the other Walking Dead brass have been discussing the possibility of a “reunion type show where we get a lot of the great characters” for the past couple of years.

If the fans want to see the characters reunite, and even the makers of the shows want to see them reunite, then what’s the holdup? Why hasn’t this reunion happened yet?

With Only 2 Confirmed Seasons Left, The Walking Dead’s Crossover Dream Is Fading

Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) standing together in a Spanish town in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3

While The Walking Dead has been a thriving MCU-style expanded universe for over a decade now, it’s finally starting to wind down. Daryl Dixon and Dead City are both renewed for one more season, and in the case of Daryl Dixon, it’s confirmed to be the last. In the past two years, we haven’t heard anything about a follow-up to The Ones Who Live, so that one seems to be over and done with. With only two confirmed seasons left, and seemingly no firm plans beyond that, the dream of a Walking Dead crossover reuniting the ensemble is, sadly, fading.

Although I’d love to see a Walking Dead reunion show bringing everyone back together, I fear that the time may have passed. The Walking Dead’s cultural relevance has long since evaporated; it was once the highest-rated show on television, but only the most diehard fans remain now. At one point, a show featuring Rick, Daryl, Carol, and Maggie would’ve been a reason for ex-Walking Dead fans to tune back in and catch up with the franchise, but it might’ve been so long that even those fans won’t bother to tune in anymore.

The spinoffs have written the franchise into a corner. Daryl and Carol are still stranded in Europe, with one last rodeo to go, so unless Rick and Michonne drag their children across the world on the off-chance they’ll bump into some old friends, we’re unlikely to see The Walking Dead’s long-anticipated reunion. The Walking Dead has squandered a couple of great opportunities to bring back the classic ensemble dynamic, and now, it may have missed the boat.

There’s nothing I’d love to see more than a crossover between Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live, where Rick and Daryl and Carol and Michonne are all somehow reunited for another zombie-slaying adventure. As a former Walking Dead superfan who occasionally checks in on these lackluster spinoffs, a Rick/Daryl crossover is the one thing that could get me excited about this franchise again.

But I’m not holding my breath. Even if such a reunion show does happen, it’s already too late for it to have the impact it could’ve had. The Walking Dead will always have a special place in my heart, but it’s undergone quite a spectacular fall from grace.

The Walking Dead

8/10

Release Date: 2010 – 2022
Showrunner: Frank Darabont, Angela Kang, Scott M. Gimple, Glen Mazzara
Directors: David Boyd, Ernest R. Dickerson, Billy Gierhart, Guy Ferland, Laura Belsey, Jeffrey F. January, Michael Cudlitz, Sharat Raju, Alrick Riley, Michael Slovis, Michelle MacLaren, Rosemary Rodriguez, Seith Mann, Tricia Brock, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Daniel Sackheim, Fred Toye, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Jon Amiel, Kari Skogland, Kevin Dowling, Tawnia McKiernan, Larry Teng, Julius Ramsay