THE WALKING DEAD Franchise Plans to Never Die

With series lead Andrew Lincoln‘s upcoming exit from The Walking Dead‘s ninth season, not to mention the departure of so many other cast members over the past couple of years, one might think the franchise was heading towards the the end soon. Well, not so fast. According to a report coming from Bloomberg, AMC is currently hashing out plans to make new movies and TV shows based on Robert Kirkman’s long running The Walking Dead comics. AMC has apparently begun discussion with several large media companies about partnering with them on these projects, possibly to cost of upwards of several hundred million dollars.

Scott Gimple, former executive producer for the show, is now the chief content officer for the franchise (which includes spin-off Fear The Walking Dead) has apparently been considering making a spin-off series set in another country. This is probably in an effort to appeal to all those lucrative international markets. Despite taking a serious dip in ratings over the last few seasons, make no mistake: The Walking Dead brand is still a powerhouse brand and attracts a ton of viewers in the coveted 18-49 category. You can see why AMC is reluctant to let it go away.

It’s clear AMC wants The Walking Dead to be a perennial brand that finds ways to attract new generations of fans, much like Star Wars or Star Trek; both universes have lasted decades. However, those brands however often took long breaks and built a desire for new content by removing themselves from the pop culture equation for years at a time.

Part of the reason The Force Awakens was so enormously successful was the hug gap in time between Star Wars films. You could make a similar argument for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Will AMC look to these other franchises and learn from their successes and failures? Only time will tell.

What do you think of The Walking Dead apparently never dying? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: AMC