Summary
“You get to come back,” ex-Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) hesitantly tells his ex-cop partner and best friend, Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal), handing him his pistol after a near-fatal altercation between the two inThe Walking Deadseason 2, episode 2, “18 Miles Out.” Not only was this a turning point in TV’s longest shambling zombie show’s better earlier years, but it became symbolic ofThe Walking Dead’s relentless drag onward—not every season was great, especially in spin-off territory, but fiercely zombified moments arise even in the dullest occasions, keeping fans wistful that the franchise could roar back to its most entertaining storytelling.
Fifteen years, 11 seasons, five spin-offs, various webisodes and a canceled movie trilogy later, hope still lives as the franchise shows no signs of slowing down. For Scott Gimple’s promise of continuing the franchise in some form forever, a reboot built on 15 years ofWalking Deadexperimentation is necessary.
In a Saturn Awards press room-held Q&A as reported byCollider, Scott Gimple took the microphone and detailed his hopes, dreams, and vague plans forTWDUniverse’s future: “Robert Kirkman, when he initially pitched the comic to Image, it was a zombie movie that would never end…. Robert’s own brilliance of character and novelty, incredible dialogue, it hooked me as a comic creator… [and] when he stopped the comic, I was bummed out because I wanted that zombie movie that never ends so we’re picking up the torch.” Though the prospect of the never-ending zombie flick getting fully realized on the small screen is enticing, the currentWalking Deadstrategies, like the numerous ones tested, tossed, and occasionally rehashed, are slipping yet again.
Though mainstaysTWD: Dead CityandThe Ones Who Livehave been relatively well-received by fans and critics alike (particularly the latter, thanks to a mostly satisfactory conclusion to Rick Grimes and Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) intertwined storylines),TWD:Daryl Dixonseems to continue losing audiences with each progressive season, if itstwo seasons' consecutively lowering Rotten Tomatoes audience scorescan truly reflect fans' engagements.
Other spin-offs, like the short-livedTales of the Walking Deadanthology, the two-seasonTWD: World Beyondlore-filler about the villains ofThe Ones Who Liveand Rick’s kidnapper, or the once-promising-turned-mind-numbing-eight-season-prequel-turned-Morgan Jones (Lennie James) show that isFear the Walking Dead, are now either entirely skippable or gruelingly monotonous even when essential events or characters appear. Beyond a reunion of the original show’s surviving core cast—Rick, Michonne, Morgan, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan), Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), and maybe Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)—there’s not much left for this currentWalking Deadtimeline to offer, considering its various missteps and permanent decisions that restricted it from getting better.
A good example that many fans agree on is thatThe Walking Dead, at least in identity, fully died with the death of one core comic-surviving character:Rick Grimes' son, Carl Grimes(Chandler Riggs). Played by Riggs masterfully for seven-and-a-half seasons, Carl succumbs to a walker bite after saving new character and vital future group medic, Siddiq (Avi Nash). Objectively, Riggs portrayed Carl and his death gracefully, and the writing revolving around his actual death—regardless of the rest of season 8’s questionable quality—only tear-jerkingly enforced his final words to Rick in the then-current war with Negan’s Saviors.
However, unlike any other death in the comics, on screen and in theory, Carl’s death shocked fans because he was presented as one of the only two characters meant to survive until the franchise’s end. In the comics, Carl Grimes lives on well past childhood, eventually donning past characters' memorabilia, such as his father’s Sheriff hat, Michonne’s sword, andNegan’s Glenn-crushing barbed wire bat, Lucille.
In seasons past, Carl even seemed to be set up for such a future, outliving Carol’s daughter Sophia (Maddison Lintz) and numerous other child co-stars. His being Rick’s central motivator was at least one ofTheWalking Dead’s most prominent driving forces that the comics followed through on—especially considering the open knowledge of Andrew Lincoln’s desire to leave since at least season 7’s production—makeshis death on the show the final blowfor manyWalking Deaddevotees. It simply should not have happened.The Ones Who Livefinally dealt with the fallout of that, but only after six years and an awkward season 9 that had a lot of Carl-shaped storylines instead filled by a grownup and also eventually killed Henry Sutton (Matthew Lintz, Madison’s younger brother).
The only way now to returnThe Walking Deadto its prime is a reboot. By restarting, AMC and Scott Gimple can utilize 15 years of experiments to sharpen the franchise’s narrative. No more changing visions midway through series productions, no more adding new unnecessary spin-offs or soft-rebooting them (Fear the Walking Dead’s last five seasonsshow why no one anywhere should soft-reboot a TV show, at least not without a plan), and no more running on for so long the series loses audiences and the franchise’s literal leads. Fans could get a properly aged-up Carl Grimes raised by a demoralized and eventually re-moralized Rick Grimes among other more comic faithful subplots that don’t spend half-decades leading up to villains who get killed off in less than six episodes.
It is anyone’s guess whether the writers or producers could achieve that in three seasons, thirteen, or thirty-three. Even so, the only way for those seasons to truly grip audiences is by returning to form—and improving upon that form, so that even the flaws of the original universe’s greatest seasons don’t invade. Though a reboot seems unlikely anytime soon, givenDead Cityseason 2’s May release window andDaryl Dixon’s Spain-based season 3 production, it is more than time forThe Walking Deadto return to its roots and execute the story played out previously with more cohesion and fewer jarring deaths for unpredictability’s sake.
