Diehard The Walking Dead viewers who worried that the new crop of spin offs wouldn’t deliver saw their fears largely put to rest by AMC’s newest zombie offerings. Those worries were, of course, made worse by Fear The Walking Dead sticking around for arguably much too long (as opposed to The World Beyond‘s two seasons). Yet franchise chief Scott Gimple is guiding these new spin offs in a more restrained manner by giving Rick Grimes an apparent solo season for a happy ending with Michonne. Daryl Dixon has been ruled to be the entry that will probably run for several seasons, and then there’s Dead City, which will come back for a second season with more to be determined.
Dead City obviously has a different feel than its spin off brethren and the original The Walking Dead. That long-running original series largely kept characters out of cities, but Maggie headed into Manhattan in search of the kidnapped Hershel Rhee, and she gave Negan no choice but to join her. The season finale saw Maggie leaving Negan high and dry after having traded the former Saviors leader for her son, who then gave his mom some hell for never being able to let her vengeance against Negan go. Few could blame Maggie for her stance, but Negan had attempted to make things right. That complicates matters, so let’s dig into where the second Dead City season could go.
Plot
For starters, we can infer that Negan will be feeling pretty desperate after what Maggie pulled on him, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently confirmed (according to Den Of Geek) that this hits Negan hard: “I feel like we find him in a spot that he’s never been in before. He’s a lot more vulnerable and he’s in a sticky situation, sort of needing Maggie to come save his ass, really.”
While he waits, how will Negan survive? Well, AMC revealed a surprising reunion. This will not, as some fans might prefer, involve Rick Grimes but Negan’s bat, Lucille. The reunion is unexpected for a few reasons, including Negan’s favorite old torture device previously becoming a splintery mess and then ashes. While burning what was left of Lucille, Negan also lamented what he had done in his late wife’s name. Yet in this new teaser for Dead City, Negan is strutting around with his old whistle and a new Lucille:
Will Negan use the new Lucille after having (possibly) accepted The Dama’s invitation? It sure seems like he made that call, and although it appeared that Maggie would regret leaving Negan behind and go rescue him, Negan doesn’t look like (at least in the teaser) he waited too long for that to happen before deciding to pick up his old persona. Either that, or Negan reasoned that the only way for him to survive was to feign being the formerly vicious Negan.
Whatever the case, Morgan recently told SDCC’s Hall H (via Variety) that he was “really excited” about the bat’s return because “[t]here’s something about that sweet girl that I love… It makes me turn into Negan.” Still, Morgan admitted that Negan “has a love-hate relationship with her.”
By the way, if you missed watching this spin off, the first season can be streamed on AMC+ and further down the line (in January 2025) on Netflix.
Cast
In addition to Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan’s return as Negan and Maggie, we can also expect more of Željko Ivanek as the Croat. Kim Coates (Sons Of Anarchy) was previously announced to have joined the cast, and Deadline recently reported further additions including Dascha Polanco (Orange Is The New Black), Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary, and Pooya Mohseni, who will appear alongside Gaius Charles, Jonathan Higginbotham, Mahina Napoleon, Trey Santiago-Hudson, and Charlie Solis.
Release Date
The Walking Dead: Dead City will return in 2025.
Trailer
Since we already included the show’s teaser trailer above, here’s a refresher on Negan’s most notorious The Walking Dead quotes: