New Walking Dead Spin-Off Show Is In "Active Development"

The Walking Dead might not be the immense ratings hit it once was, but it's still popular enough for AMC to be developing further spin-offs and movies alongside the main series. Last year, it was announced that a series of Walking Dead movies were in the works, and now it has been confirmed that a new spin-off show is being developed.

As reported by to Deadline, AMC revealed the news via its quarterly earnings call. While AMC CEO Josh Sapan didn't provide any specific details about the new show, he did state that a new Walking Dead spin-off was in "active development."

"We're not at a stage where we'll be announcing its plans to premiere," he said "But we have hired creative people that have pitched story outlines. We feel very good about the development of that series."

If a new Walking Dead spin-off happens, it will join Fear the Walking Dead, which is set during the early months of the zombie apocalypse and premiered in 2015. The fifth season is due later this year.

In terms of the Walking Dead movies, they were announced in November last year and are expected to focus on the character of Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln. Lincoln left the main show at the start of the current ninth season, but Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple confirmed that he will return for the films, along with co-star Pollyanna McIntosh, who plays Jadis. It is unknown when they are likely to be released, but the first movie is expected to start filming in 2019.

Current audience numbers for The Walking Dead are nowhere near the numbers it enjoyed in 2014, when the Season 5 premiere became the most watched cable show of all time. Nevertheless, it is still the most popular drama on cable, and as The Wrap notes, its audience decline is in line with a fall in cable viewers across the board.