We ranked all the spin-offs of The Walking Dead
Six spin-off series have already been broadcast. So which one is the most successful and which one took the plunge?
The first season of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live has just ended. And she will have succeeded in bringing Rick Grimes back into the picture in a very beautiful way Walking Dead. His romantic-survivalist adventures with Michonne kept fans in suspense for six episodes. A small feat, for this sixth (!) spin-off of a franchise that has been washed away and which continues to survive, despite the end of the parent series two years ago. So what are the best series derived from The Walking Dead ? We take stock.
6) Tales of the Walking Dead (2022)
1 season
Broadcaster: OCS
The concept was interesting: telling stories of additional survivors, for one or two episodes, to show how others resisted the end of the world. The result unfortunately gave an anthology far from being essential, made up of redundant post-apo short stories. Ultimately we will only keep the focus on the origins of Alpha (Samantha Morton) and the confirmation that our dear Mark Greene ofEMERGENCIES (Anthony Edwards) is still an actor.
5) The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020-21)
2 seasons
Broadcaster: Prime Video
Without a doubt the most disappointing of all, but not necessarily the least interesting. And shedding light on a Nebraska community and its generation of young survivors who never knew the world before, The Walking Dead attempted to introduce a whole gallery of new heroes. But the teenage heroines did not have the shoulders to take on such a journey. Fortunately, World Beyond had a free hand to be the first series TWD to explore CRM and show those who hid behind the famous helicopters. Not to mention this intriguing post-credits scene in France, which promised a zombific scientific revolution… which we are still waiting for in the franchise.
4) The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023-ongoing)
1 season + 1 to come
Broadcaster: OCS
Betting on Negan was of course the right idea! Jeffrey Dean Morgan achieved the feat of winning over the fans, despite his early batting. The redemption of the bad boy is always a hit. And his daring association with Glenn's widow turned into a successful bet. The duo on a mission to New York beat up survivors with the passion of a good old Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) from the 1980s and an undeniable charisma. That being said, the poverty of the script ruined the fun a little. Faced with a gallery of hackneyed and worn-out villains, Negan seemed to cavort in the void, giving this spin-off the air of a useless chapter.
3) Fear the Walking Dead (2015-23)
8 seasons
Broadcaster: Canal +
The most ambitious of all. For a decade, Fear experimented again and again. First thought of as an urban version of the saga, showing the explosion of the crisis in the heart of Los Angeles, the first spin-off turned into a spectacular post-apocalyptic western. In the meantime, there have been some particularly exciting things (the yacht from season 2, the tower from season 7, the nuclear explosion from season 6, the baseball stadium from season 4…) and others significantly more painful (the sect, the ranch, June, Daniel, Dwight, the sect…). In the end, there is the feeling that Fear didn't know how to be the best series TWD which it certainly could have been, probably because it lasted (much) too long (113 episodes!). But she was undeniably the most daring, inventing the most interesting survivors of the entire saga, from the revelation Frank Dillane (Nick) to the fabulous Colman Domingo (Strand), including the gunslinger Garret Dillahunt (John Dorie).
2) The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (2024)
1 season
Broadcaster: Paramount +
How to justify the absence of Rick Grimes? How to successfully reunite with Michonne? The task was arduous and it was handled well by the authors of the most recent spin-off. If the Civil Republic and its army first take up all the space, the romantic alchemy of the two heroes then takes over. More than at the time of Alexandria, the sheriff and his girlfriend let themselves be carried away by their feelings and take the saga towards surprising and very unexpected languorous waters. As if Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira had never left! Rick and Michonne's passion has its little effect and offers TWD the romantic conclusion it deserved.
1) The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023-ongoing)
1 season + 1 to come
Broadcaster: Paramount +
It deserved its own series! Daryl was obviously the coolest character in the original series and the producers had the great idea of giving him his own solo adventure. The dark biker's journey across the old Continent does not avoid certain clichés. And this subplot of a divine chosen child (?) doesn't really make sense in the saga TWD. Nonetheless, the ride was very cool. Traveling across France, from the deserted Cannebière to the broken Eiffel Tower, via the Pont du Gard or the streets of Angers, this France ravaged by the end of the world brings a breath of fresh air to a franchise which had ended by suffocating in the cramped humidity of Virginia. Norman Reedus found his place in a great French casting, creating an obvious bond with Clémence Poésie. Taking full advantage of its real settings, the spin-off knew how to play the postcard, without neglecting the substance. Daryl is still #1.
