The Walking Dead’s last panel at NYCC included a brief trailer for Season 11 Part 3, as well as some cast memories, and a few teases about the series’ many spinoffs.
Though the final eight episodes of The Walking Dead’s final season are already airing, the cast took their last bittersweet bow this weekend at New York City Comic-Con. Moderated as always by Talking Dead’s Chris Hardwick, the panel consisted of Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Ridloff, Eleanor Matsuura, Michael James Shaw, and Paola Lázaro.
First, fans in the audience got a special look at the opening two minutes of the October 9 episode, “A New Deal.” A particularly violent moment from Norman Reedus’ character Daryl got such fervent cheers from the crowd that both Hardwick and Reedus commented on it. (Reedus also observed that when Carol approached Daryl in the scene preceding the violence, the room went totally still and quiet.)
“It all comes together,” said the infamously tight-lipped Gimple about the final episodes. (During the Q&A portion of the panel, a fan labeled his non-answers “Gimplisms,” which Hardwick vowed to steal.) What he did promise is that all of the characters will reach their final forms, just like Pokémon.
Of course with spin-offs on the horizon, the end is not really an end for some of the cast — and so the panel also had some spin-off business to take care of. In addition to the ongoing series Fear The Walking Dead, the limited series The Walking Dead: The World Beyond, and the anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead, there are three upcoming series in the The Walking Dead universe. First up, and currently filming in New Jersey, is the Maggie and Negan series titled The Walking Dead: Dead City. Fans were treated to some stills from the upcoming series that showed Maggie in a bar, sporting a new leather jacket. He also revealed that the series will premiere in April 2023.
Gimple did not have much to share about the Rick and Michonne spin-off, which was first conceived as a feature-length film. But there were updates on the Daryl Dixon spin-off, which is set and will film in Paris, France. Reedus described the series as “epic in scope” and says France isn’t ready for what they want to do. “There’s been a lot of talk,” Reedus said, lightly alluding to Melissa McBride’s departure from the series.
