September 9, 2020

AMC announced today that The Walking Dead will be coming to an end after its upcoming 11th season. The post-apocalyptic horror drama still has plenty more story to tell though, as Season 11 is set to be its largest ever, on top of an already-expanded Season 10 that has seven as-yet-unaired episodes still on the way.

The veteran series' aforementioned 10th season was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic-related shutdown earlier this year. Its previously-planned finale will now air in October, with six additional episodes recently added to it that will air in early 2021. That will help tide fans over until Season 11, which will consist of 24 episodes that will premiere later in 2021 and run through to late 2022.

On top of all that, a new spin-off was also announced for 2023 that will take place in the same universe. It will follow the continued adventures of fan-favorite characters Daryl and Carol. No further details on that series will be known for quite some time.

The decision to end The Walking Dead comes as a bit of a surprise. While no longer the juggernaut it once was, the show still draws a sizeable audience. In many ways the move does make sense, though, as ratings have tumbled precipitously in recent years. The Robert Kirkman comic series on which it is based also ended in 2019, which seemed to set the stage for the show to say good-bye sooner than later.

The overall Walking Dead universe has expanded to the point that there will still be plenty of content out there for fans for quite some time. On top of original spin-off Fear the Walking Dead, which is going into its sixth season, there is the upcoming limited series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, a trio of films that will feature Rick Grimes, the Daryl and Carol spin-off in 2023, and even a possible anthology series that is in the early planning stages.