The Walking Dead's 2026 Return With New Episodes Officially Ends An Era

Now that AMC has turned The Walking Dead into its own version of Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a seemingly endless stream of spinoffs and sequels, it might seem daunting to get into any of the newer shows — especially since most Walking Dead fans didn’t even make it through all 11 seasons of the flagship series. But some of those spinoffs are still worth watching, even if you didn’t make it to the end of The Walking Dead itself.

By the end of its run, The Walking Dead was a shadow of its former self. Half the cast had left, the writers kept recycling all the same tired tropes, and there was no real plan to give the show a proper ending because it had all these offshoots on the horizon. The last couple of seasons were practically unwatchable, but some of the spinoffs have been pretty good.

Not every Walking Dead spinoff is worth watching; The Ones Who Live got off to a strong start, but ended up making Rick and Michonne’s epic reunion feel very small and anticlimactic. But there are some great ones, like the Daryl Dixon show, whose recently released third season put Daryl and Carol in a spaghetti western on the Spanish frontier.

When a Maggie/Negan team-up show was first announced, it sounded like a terrible idea. Negan beat Maggie’s husband to death — he popped his eye out of his skull for fun — and we’re supposed to just forgive and forget!? But, surprisingly, The Walking Dead: Dead City, despite teaming up a widow and her husband’s killer, and despite having such a clunky title, has turned out to be one of The Walking Dead’s most worthwhile spinoffs.

Maggie & Negan Finally, FINALLY Stop Feuding In The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3

In its first season, Dead City was essentially pitched as Maggie & Negan Take Manhattan. Season 1 had to do some wild mental gymnastics to explain why Maggie would agree to work with Negan, and season 2 continued to hammer the same points over and over again. The writers have had a tough time making any of Negan’s apologies or attempts at redemption feel organic, because they went way too far with the way Negan killed Glenn in the first place. Sure, it was taken directly from the comic, but a black-and-white drawing is nowhere near as disturbing as a realistic replica of Steven Yeun’s skull being turned to jelly in full high-def.

That was our introduction to Negan, and it has permanently tarnished how we see him. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan has fought tooth and nail to make Negan’s redemption feel as sincere and convincing as possible, and after two seasons of Dead City, it’s just about landed. There was no way to make it completely work, but at least we can move on.

The trailer for Dead City season 3 confirms that the spinoff is finally moving past Maggie and Negan’s feud and making them the reluctant partners the show’s premise was designed around. It only took three seasons to get us there.

Dead City Is Worth Watching, Even If You Didn't Finish The Walking Dead

Even if you never finished The Walking Dead, Dead City is worth checking out. The writing isn’t always great — there’s a lot of contrived plotting, a lot of missed opportunities, and a lot of lackluster action scenes — but Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s on-screen chemistry saves it. The characters are mortal enemies, but the actors are natural scene partners.

The sprawling urban metropolis of New York is an exciting setting to explore in the Walking Dead universe, even if the budget doesn’t always allow the filmmakers to capture the full scope of the city. Maggie and Negan’s friendship doesn’t always ring true, but Cohan and Morgan are a joy to watch in The Walking Dead: Dead City.