Zombies on TV are cool again, and that's great news for , the original zombie TV trendsetter. AMC's long-running flagship series ended in late 2022 after 11 seasons, but the franchise is still alive and kicking thanks to its many spin-offs. Two new ones are coming this year, both featuring fan-favorite characters from the original show: In the second half of 2023, we'll see Daryl Dixon () traveling to France in , but before that, is headed to the City That Never Sleeps.
, coming this summer, will follow unlikely buds Negan () and Maggie () as they head to New York City years after the conclusion of . He split open her husband's head with a baseball bat, now they're vacationing together! What would Glenn think? Glenn would want to know when premieres, who's in it, and what it's about. We'll explain all that to him below.
premieres Sunday, June 18 at 10/9c on AMC and AMC+. The following episodes in the six-episode season will air Sundays at 9/8c.
The premiere date was announced on March 25 with the help of a new teaser video, which shows Maggie screaming for her son while Negan grumbles, "Seriously? Walkers are falling from the sky now?" Someone's having a great time in New York.
Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and team up with your greatest enemy to save your son, at least in the universe. In , Maggie is on the hunt for her missing son, and she's forced to work with the infamous bat-wielding, husband-killing Negan to track down Hershel on the mean streets of post-apocalyptic New York City. This is not the we know, even if there are a few familiar faces.
will show us how the zombie apocalypse affected New York, which is apparently very different from how it hit more Southern, rural areas in Georgia and Virginia. Manhattan was long ago cut off from the mainland, and the city is crumbling. boss revealed during the TV Critics Association winter press tour that where started with "a fusion of classic stuff like John Ford and Romero," is more John Carpenter (, perhaps?), and they're really leaning into the urban setting. Showrunner even claims that some of the "magic" of two people going to New York for the first time will still be present, in spite of all the zombies. Hey, you gotta find all the joy you can in the apocalypse.
Gimple explained that while was an ensemble show, "a cast of thousands," will be very focused on Maggie, Negan, and just a few new friends/foes. "There aren't a ton of other characters, so we get to tell their stories deeply," Gimple said. "Beyond that, we're in New York City... the tone of the story is a little different, the visuals are different."
Maggie and Negan are out of the woods after many, many years, and they're about to find out just how claustrophobic a city like New York can be. There are walkers falling from the sky, and things are very much not pleasant. "It's unwelcoming," Cohan said. "We have something we have to do, but there's nothing too welcoming about it, and you feel that in the show. It felt like a really different excursion."
The show catches up with Maggie and Negan "a few years on" from where we saw them last, and Cohan says the show gets to "explore these notions of forgiveness and getting on with your life and facing your own demons."
While Morgan and Cohan agreed that it might help to have watched every season of before heading into , Jorné promised that you can also come in as a brand new fan. "You'll get to know these characters and their history very quickly," he said. "It's a new world." 
The Walking Dead: Dead City cast
Cohan and Morgan will be joined by a new cast featuring Emmy winner Željko Ivanek, Jonathan Higginbotham, Mahina Napoleon, and Karina Ortiz.
Gaius Charles (Friday Night Lights) will also face off against Negan. He plays Marshal Perlie Armstrong, a devoted family man who "clings to law and order as a way to make sense of this apocalypse," according to Charles. His version of law enforcement is something we haven't yet seen in the Walking Dead universe, and Gimple says that it's as if Armstrong has stumbled out of a different genre, and he has his own very different inner conflicts.
Cohan and Morgan also serve as executive producers, and Cohan said that they were determined to "honor" the shows that have come before, while also giving themselves something "uncomfortable and surprising" to do in the new series.
Main cast:
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan
Gaius Charles as Perlie Armstrong
Željko Ivanek as "The Croat"
Daryl Dixon will find Daryl washed ashore in France, and if you're immediately wondering how he got to France, that's the question the show (and Daryl) will be asking as he treks across the country looking for a way back home. Here's what we know about Daryl Dixon.
Rick and Michonne's spin-off is still unnamed, but it has a heck of a logline. Per AMC, "This series presents an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead... And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they've ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?"
Where to watch
The Walking Dead: Dead City will air on AMC and AMC+ beginning Sunday, June 18 at 10/9c, with subsequent episodes airing Sundays at 9/8c.
All 11 seasons of The Walking Dead are streaming on Netflix.
