I shall not be watching any of The Walking Dead spin-offs
After 11 seasons and 12 years, The Walking Dead has finally come to an end. Done. Over. Finito!
Time and time again (you can see the blog posts here) I have considered quitting and I came very close to bailing several times. But that’s not in my nature and I kept going; I’m glad I did because I feel satisfied completing such a long-running show and knowing how it ends.
But it’s not really ending, is it? As is the culture nowadays, TV shows and films can’t be a standalone thing anymore. They have to be mined for future content and to continue the longevity of a franchise (even if it has been done to death!) Stories don’t definitively end anymore – they have to leave threads hanging for the next thing to pick up or set up a new angle or introduce/reintroduce characters.
With The Walking Dead, we already have the spin-off shows Fear the Walking Dead and (the already finished) World Beyond, neither of which I watched. Soon, there will be three character continuations – one with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), another with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and another with Daryl (Norman Reedus).
I don’t intend to watch any of them. I’ve seen the main series through to the bitter end and that’s me good and done with The Walking Dead franchise. I honestly don’t know what the viewership for these shows will be as the main show dipped seasons ago and three outings are two too many. I could possibly be tempted by the Rick and Michonne one because I liked them the most and we didn’t get closure on their story, but I’m over it at this point.
This sounds like I’ve been hate-watching TWD for years but that’s not true. It’s had some really good moments but it definitely ran out of steam a long time ago. Thankfully, the last few episodes were pretty decent and the finale was emotional and bittersweet – I found myself crying!! However, I wish we didn’t know about the spin-offs beforehand because they robbed the final episodes of their stakes as we knew who would survive.
I committed to finishing The Walking Dead because I had gotten so far and it seemed like a waste to give up a season or two shy of the end. I’m glad I saw it through but now I’m done.