The Walking Dead has proven its mettle over the last ten years. The show’s success on AMC has spawned a couple of spinoffs, including Fear the Walking Dead and the upcoming The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The latter was first announced back in 2018, with World Beyond’s first footage shown at last year’s New York Comic Con. The Walking Dead spinoff will expand upon the already established apocalyptic society and introduce a plethora of new characters.
With the highly-anticipated series set to premiere later this year, here are seven quick things to know about The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
World Beyond Was Supposed To Premiere In April
Filming on Season 1 of World Beyond had already wrapped and was in the post-production phase for the final few episodes. But, due to Hollywood-wide production shutdowns in March, the company working on the post-production for the AMC series reportedly closed its doors for a while.
The series premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond was scheduled to debut on Sunday, April 12, immediately following the Season 10 finale of its parent show (which has also been delayed). However, AMC pushed back World Beyond’s premiere date for later this year. That said, a return date and time have not yet been confirmed.
World Beyond Is Only Planned For A Two-Season Run
Unlike The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, World Beyond is only planning to run for two seasons, with each season consisting of ten episodes. Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, revealed the news at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. Here’s what she had to say about the spinoff’s format (via Forbes):
It is not imitating The Walking Dead either in substance or form - World Beyond is a two-season closed-ended series that will tell a very specific and distinct story.
Of course, that plan could change and AMC execs may decide to extend the series past its two-season run. For now, having a two-season cut-off is good because it could give the story a clear ending.
World Beyond Is Set 10 Years After The Apocalypse
The Walking Dead is set in the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. The spinoff will be going down a different route and will be more of a coming-of-age experience for the youth who grew up in the decade following the outbreak.
World Beyond will kick off its story in Nebraska, following two sisters and their friends — including Alexa Mansour’s Hope, Nicolas Cantu's Elton, Hal Cumpston's Silas, and Aliyah Royale's Iris — as they leave their sheltered world behind and take a cross-country journey to find the one person who might help them save the world. According to former The Walking Dead showrunner and AMC’s Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple, the teenagers’ journey will be more of a quest:
The quest aspect makes it very different beyond the fact that these kids are unlike characters we’ve seen before. They’ve grown up in all of this but they’ve also grown up in relative safety. So they’re aware of the world and of walkers but they’ve grown up behind walls so they’re not out there mixing it up with the walkers and the dangers.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond will take them out of their comfort zone and into the world of adventure and danger. Sounds like fun!
There Will Be CRM Connections To The Walking Dead
The biggest connections the spinoff will have to The Walking Dead will largely be related to the Civil Republic Military (CRM), a network of three distinct communities of survivors responsible for rebuilding society. If you recall, Rick Grimes was taken in a helicopter by the CRM in Season 9 of The Walking Dead.
The CRM later appeared in Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead and will play a key role in World Beyond. One of the three interlocked symbols denoting CRM belongs to the community in World Beyond, which Scott M. Gimple confirmed in a panel at New York Comic Con last year (via TVGuide). Fans can expect World Beyond to incorporate CRM, with Lt. Col. Elizabeth Kubler, one of the group’s leaders, to play a major role. Does that mean it might connect back to where the CRM took Rick? It’s always possible.
World Beyond Had A Working Title Of Monument
When The Walking Dead: World Beyond was in its early days, the spinoff series had a working title of Monument. It wasn’t until late last year that it was revealed the AMC series would officially be called World Beyond.
In the trailer for World Beyond, Iris says that, “It’s called Monument Day because we’re all monuments to the past.” And, before it was revealed what CRM actually stood for, the “M” in the initials was thought to be a reference to Monument, which may have been the name of the early central location in Nebraska.
One Walking Dead Character Will Appear
Fans of The Walking Dead shouldn’t expect to see any major characters from the show, but there is one lone character who will appear in The World Beyond. That person is Zach Ball. The actor played a member of the Saviors in The Walking Dead and will appear in World Beyond as a character named Brocky, a survivor of the outbreak. There isn’t much information beyond that, but that connection to the parent show should be interesting.
World Beyond Filmed in Virginia Instead Of Georgia
Georgia has long been the filming location and show setting for The Walking Dead. Fear the Walking Dead was the first spinoff to branch out, filming in Texas for a few years, as well as in Los Angeles, Canada, and Mexico.
While World Beyond will begin its story in Nebraska before heading to other places, the series was filmed in Virginia, primarily in Richmond, Petersburg, and Hopewell. Per Richmond Times-Dispatch, the spinoff’s production included a destroyed plane and crashed cars while filming in Hopewell last August.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond is scheduled to premiere at some point this year. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on the series. In the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 summer TV premiere guide for more on what to watch.
