The Walking Dead seen on FOX cancelled, will end with an extended season 11 in 2022 as more spinoffs are planned.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125  /StarSat 131) has been cancelled after 11 seasons with the AMC-produced zombie drama series that will end with an extended season.

The Walking Dead will end with an 11th season that will play out over an extended 24-episode season, with 12 episodes set to be broadcast in 2021, and the final 12 episodes in 2022.

The 11th season of The Walking Dead was supposed to broadcast this year but was delayed because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic that shut down film and television production globally.

Besides the end of The Walking Dead, AMC will also produce another two Walking Dead spinoff series - one revolving around Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) that will debut in 2023; as well as an anthology zombie-series currently entitled Tales of The Walking Dead, bringing the number of new spinoffs to 4 series.

Meanwhile the 10th season of The Walking Dead will start on 4 October, followed by 6 bonus episodes before the 11th season's first half starts later in 2021.

"It’s been 10 years 'gone bye', what lies ahead are 2 more to come and stories to tell beyond that" says Scott M. Gimple, former The Walking Dead showrunner and chief content officer of the franchise, in a statement.

"What’s clear is that this show has been about the living, made by a passionate cast, team of writer/producers, producers, and crew, bringing to life the vision put forth by Robert Kirkman in his brilliant comic - and supported by the best fans in the world."

"We have a lot of thrilling story left to tell on The Walking Dead and then, this end will be a beginning of more Walking Dead - brand new stories and characters, familiar faces and places, new voices, and new mythologies."

"This will be a grand finale that will lead to new premieres. Evolution is upon us. The Walking Dead lives."

Angela Kang, The Walking Dead showrunner, says "I look forward to digging in with our brilliant writers, producers, directors, cast and crew to bring this epic final chapter of Robert Kirkman’s story to life for our fans over the next two years."

"The Walking Dead flagship series has been my creative home for a decade and so it’s bittersweet to bring it to an end, but I could not be more excited to be working with Scott Gimple and AMC to develop a new series for Daryl and Carol."

"Working with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride has been a highlight of my career and I'm thrilled that we get to keep telling stories together."

Ed Carroll, chief operating officer at AMC Networks, says "The Walking Dead made television history, and is one of those rare creative works that has given life to an entire content universe that is still in the early stages of growing and entertaining both new and established fans".

"We can’t wait to bring viewers this expanded final season of The Walking Dead over the next two years, and launch the fourth series in the history of the franchise, focused on the beloved Daryl and Carol characters, with the incredibly talented Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Angela Kang and Scott M. Gimple."

"There really is so much 'walking' ahead, in a number of very exciting directions, for this extraordinary creative universe we call The Walking Dead."

The 6th season of the spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead will start in October.

The other spinoff series, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, following the "first generation" to grow up during the zombie apocalypse, will start on the dame day in the United States. A South African TV channel and date for The Walking Dead: World Beyond has not yet been announced.

Coronavirus: Covid-19 virus stops the zombies dead in their tracks as AMC's The Walking Dead on FOX is forced to postpone its 10th season finale.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Covid-19 virus has stopped the zombies dead in their tracks: The 10th season finale of The Walking Dead seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) will be delayed and broadcast later as a special episode because of the global coronavirus pandemic that is impacting post-production.

The Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios and revolves a group of post-apocalyptic survivors trekking across the United States in a world where a frightening new virus turns people who die into zombies without a cure.

Seasons have 16 episodes and just broadcast the 13th episode of the 10th season that saw the exit of Danai Gurirawith, with South African and African viewers getting the show as an Express from the US title.

"Current events have unfortunately made it impossible to complete post-production of The Walking Dead season 10 finale, so the current season will end with its 15th episode on 15 April," says AMC in a statement.

"The planned finale will appear as a special episode later in the year."

AMC already pushed out the starting date of the spinoff series, Walking Dead: World Beyond that would have started on 12 April directly after the 10th season finale of The Walking Dead, also because of the coronavirus pandemic. AMC said that Walking Dead: World Beyond will now start "later this year".

Preproduction on the 11th season of The Walking Dead was already postponed as well.

The zom-pocalypse endures as AMC commissions a third The Walking Dead drama series, this time following two young fighting females.

The Walking Dead is far from buried with AMC that has officially commissioned another The Walking Dead spin-off with the third, as-yet-unnamed, drama series set in the aftermath of a global zombie apocalypse that will start sometime in 2020 on SundanceTV (DStv 108).

As viewership is waning for The Walking Dead that is still continuing on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) and that is in its 9th season and renewed for a 10th set to start in October, as well as four seasons of Fear the Walking Dead on SundanceTV that will start its 5th season in June, AMC has commissioned a third series that will take place within the same d(r)eadful universe.

"Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. In the end, all of them will be changed forever," says AMC.

Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead both take place in the months and years after a zombie apocalypse and follow different groups of survivors traveling in search of a safe and secure home.

The new drama series in the franchise will focus on two young female protagonists - the first generation to have grown up after the zombie apocalypse. Production on the first 10-episode season, produced and distributed by AMC Studios, will start during winter.

The new spin-off is co-created by Scott M. Gimple, the chief content officer of The Walking Dead universe, as well as Matt Negrete, who has been a writer and producer on The Walking Dead for the past five seasons and who will be the showrunner of the new series.

"We're thrilled that the Dead will keep walking into a new corner of the post-apocalyptic world, a corner that will present stories and characters unlike any that The Walking Dead has dramatized thus far, and that is bound to excite one of the most passionate fan-bases in television," says David Madden, president of programming for AMC Networks and AMC Studios, in a statement.

"Scott has been an invaluable leader for this universe since taking on the role of chief content officer, with a distinct and innovative vision for the franchise. Likewise, we're excited to have Matt, who has been a crucial part of The Walking Dead family for over five years and penned many memorable episodes of The Walking Dead, at the helm of this original series."

Sarah Barnett, president of the entertainment networks group for AMC Networks, says "On the heels of an incredible 9th season of The Walking Dead and as we approach an anticipated new season of Fear the Walking Dead on 2 June, this is an exciting moment for the Dead franchise, which continues to thrive in a highly competitive environment".

"We are thankful to be working with some of the best creatives in the business to expand this universe in new and exciting ways for our fans."

Scott M. Gimple says "Showing audiences an unseen pocket of The Walking Dead universe steeped in a new mythology is a very cool way to celebrate a 'Decade of the Dead' on TV and over 15 years of Robert Kirkman's brilliant comic".

"Matt Negrete is one of the best writer-producers in The Walking Dead's long history - I'm thrilled to be working beside him to tell stories unlike we've seen before, taking our first step into an even larger world."

Matt Negrete says "I'm beyond excited to be a part of this new show set in The Walking Dead universe".

"Writing and producing for the original series has been the job of a lifetime and I'm honoured to be working with Scott and all the fine Dead folks at AMC in this new capacity. I can't wait for the fans of the franchise to see what we've been cooking up!"

OOH, AWESOME. Ridley Scott's new epic-looking British navy period drama, The Terror, coming to AMC and SundanceTV on DStv and Kwesé TV from 27 March as an Express from the US title.

The amazing looking new premium TV period drama, The Terror, produced by Ridley Scott, will be coming to South African and African viewers simulcast on both AMC (Kwese TV 130) and Sundance TV (DStv 108) from 27 March at 21:00, and as an Express from the US title.

South African viewers will see the big-budget series a whole month before the United Kingdom, where The Terror only starts on 24 April, as the first of 2018's most anticipated new premium TV series of the year.

The terrific new limited-series period drama from Scott Free Productions, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 in association with AMC Studios, is based on Dan Simmons's 2007 book by the same name.

The Terror will start on 26 March in America, and literally at the same time in South Africa and Africa where pay-TV subscribers will be able to see the 10 episodes it in high definition thanks to AMC Networks International that in 2016 snapped up the drama series for an exclusive premiere playout next month on AMC Global's channels in territories across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.

The Terror will have with new episodes every Tuesday until 29 May, with a cast including Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, Ciaran Hinds, Matthew McNaulty and Nive Nielsen as the enigmatic Lady Silence.

The Terror's teaser trailer looks incredible and tells the tale of the British Royal Navy's perilous voyage in 1847 into unchartered territory and the various crews' desperate attempt discover the Northwest Passage sea route in the frigid Arctic Ocean through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

The Terror, playing out as a bit of a horror story since it's done by Alien director Ridley Scott, is inspired by a true story with the drama series that will have viewers really at the edge of their seats with treacherous conditions, dwindling and limited resources, dwindling hope, fear of death, somewhat of a supernatural mystery and several secrets and shocking revelations as crews are pushed to the brink of extinction.

While everything starts out fine, soon the ships are trapped in the ice and people start dying. Frozen, isolated and stuck at the end of the world, The Terror shows all that can go wrong when a group of men, desperate to survive, struggle not only with the harsh elements, but with each other.

While desperately searching for a way through, the crews are attacked by a mysterious predator that stalks the ships and their crew in a suspenseful and desperate game of survival.

Meanwhile various in-fighting and political, naval intrigue are playing out aboard as each of the top-ranking naval officers are scheming for various reasons, while Lady Silence is trying to protect her land and her people.

The real expedition to discovery the Northwest Passage led to more than 120 crew members inexplicably disappearing. That of course has led to a lot of speculation over the year of just what exactly happened on board.

After almost 175 years of searching, the ships were discovered by arctic research groups in 2014 and 2016.

The Terror was filmed in Budapest and is named for one of the two British ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror that undertook the perilous journey.

"The Terror captures a rare combination of fascinating history, complex and flawed characters, the inextinguishable human spirit and the horror and promise of an uncharted world,"says executive producers and co-showrunners David Kajganich and Soo Hugh in a statement.

"We are looking forward to bringing viewers into this world."

Here is the teaser trailer for The Terror:



Here is a fascinating, must-watch, pre-season behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Terror:

The Walking Dead on FOX renewed for a 9th season; gets a 4th new showrunner as longtime writer Angela Kang is promoted to executive producer before the 8th season resumes on 26 February.

The Walking Dead has been renewed for a 9th season with the zombie apocalypse drama that is also getting its 4th showrunner.

The second half of the 8th season of The Walking Dead will start on 25 February in America and on Monday 26 February at 21:00 on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) as one of Fox Networks Group Africa's few remaining "Express from the US" titles on the channel.

The drama series produced by AMC Studios in America, shocked in its mid-season finale by revealing that Carl Grimes, played by Chandler Riggs, has been bitten by a zombie walker.

The Walking Dead previous announced that as one of last five remaining original characters, the character will be killed off in the upcoming first new episode while the character of Morgan played by Lennie James will be leaving at the end of the season to join the spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead seen on AMC Networks International's Sundance TV (DStv 108) when the two shows do a cross-over story later this year.

Scott M. Gimple who has been with the show since the second season hasn't been fired like the previous showrunners Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara, but is out and being moved to a new position of chief content officer over both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.

The longtime The Walking Dead writer and co-executive producer Angela Kang, a writer on the show since 2011 and a co-executive producer since 2013, is taking over as showrunner and executive producer.

The Walking Dead has seen a ratings decline since the end of the 6th season and the latest changes behind-the-scenes are likely in an attempt to bring renew focus and storytelling to the series.

“We are proud to acknowledge Angela Kang’s significant contribution to the series and to set a clear path forward for a ninth season under her direction. Further, with gratitude and admiration, we also recognize Scott M. Gimple’s broad impact on, and leadership of, the content that fuels our The Walking Dead universe,” says AMC in a statement. “Together, we will dream bigger and more broadly than ever before.”

“The Walking Dead is a special show which started in an entirely different era of TV, and continues, in this new era, to confidently take chances to tell compelling stories that excite audiences and make them deeply connect with its characters, adapting Robert Kirkman’s brilliant comic book,” says Scott M. Gimple.

“As the show closes in on its tenth year, I’m honoured to keep working with the talented, dedicated people behind and in front of the camera to make it all it can be, while expanding the world of The Walking Dead with new narratives like Fear the Walking Dead and a whole host of truly cool stories ahead. Angela is a big part of the heart and soul of The Walking Dead, and I’m thrilled to help facilitate her vision of the show’s next era.”

Angela Kang says “I am beyond thrilled to be stepping into this new role with The Walking Dead. Working on this series and having the opportunity to adapt Robert Kirkman’s amazing comic has been a fangirl dream come true for me.”

“I’m excited to continue working with Scott M. Gimple and the wonderfully supportive folks at AMC, and can’t wait to share the next chapter of the story with our fans".

BREAKING. New zombie drama, Fear The Walking Dead, a massive hit for AMC Networks International's AMC on DStv and StarSat.

New zombie drama and The Walking Dead spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead is a massive hit right out of the box for AMC (DStv 140 / StarSat 115) which now has instant must-watch, appointment television on Monday nights.

Fear the Walking Dead which made its monster debut on Sunday night in America on AMC and was shown on Monday morning at 03:10 on AMC in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv and On Digital Media's StarSat and again in its regular primetime timeslot of 20:00, logged an astounding 10.1 million viewers in the United States.

The viewership - 6.3 million of them in the desired 18-49 adult demographic - instantly propelled Fear the Walking Dead to the number one drama series premiere in pay-TV history in America which is a new ratings record.

Fear the Walking Dead produced by AMC Studios now holds the record as the most watched series premiere of any TV drama in pay-TV in the United States.

It's also history-making and highly significant for South Africa's TV and pay-TV industry, and here's why.

Although Fear the Walking Dead received barely any marketing and publicity push before its debut in South Africa today, it means that South African viewers are getting a premium brand-new TV drama, which is instantly a primetime hit, virtually simultaneous with the United States, but accessible on several lower-tiered, non-premium satellite pay-TV bouquets.

StarSat subscribers get AMC - and therefore Fear the Walking Dead - included on the StarSat Smart package for R149 per month. DStv subscribers on all packages get access to AMC - down to the cheapest DStv EasyView for R39 per month.

It means that DStv, StarSat and AMC can market and promote the hit zombie drama to virtually the  entire existing pay-TV subscriber base in South Africa.

For AMC, run by AMC Networks International Zone (AMCI Zone), Fear the Walking Dead represents a massive upgrade and and opportunity in South Africa and Africa to elevate the channel's brand and awareness of it.

The channel changed and rebranded from the stale, library title filled MGM channel to AMC only from December 2014 and can now suddenly boast the year's latest biggest TV hit, eclipsing M-Net's Game of Thrones and FOX's Empire.

Fear the Walking Dead gives AMC not just buzzy appointment television in primetime over the next few weeks but dramatically elevates the channel proposition and the AMC brand.

With the new new premium drama hour AMCI Zone which will get the chance to showcase and perhaps expose new viewers to the channel for the first time who might not have channel hopped to AMC before.

Now having a premium, first-run drama express from the United States and the year's biggest pay-TV hit is somewhat ironic for AMC, given that MultiChoice, when it was added as the MGM channel just over a year and a half ago in November 2013, initially didn't want to give the channel to its top-tiered DStv Premium subscribers but soon relented following a public backlash.

MultiChoice said at the time that the repeat filled MGM wasn't intended for DStv Premium subscribers but realised that "Premium customers would like to have the full range of channels available on their package".

Imagine the outcry now if higher-tiered pay-TV subscribers like DStv Premium customers were blocked from seeing and following the start of the latest zombie apocalypse.

"Thank you and congratulations to Robert Kirkman, Dave Erickson, the brilliant executive producers and the entire cast and crew of Fear the Walking Dead," says Charlie Collier, president of AMC in a statement.

"Fear the Walking Dead delivered record-breaking numbers that are all the more special in this era of time-shifted viewing and audience fragmentation."

"To have a companion series to the number one show on television driving communal, urgent viewing, social activity and pop cultural relevance of this magnitude is truly differentiating. Of course none of it is possible without the fans, whose passion leads to these remarkable results," says Charlie Collier.

"It is extremely exciting that we are broadcasting such fresh and interesting shows," says Ian Woodrow, the head of content at StarSat in a statement about Fear the Walking Dead.  "We have a whole new line-up of content with Fear the Walking Dead leading the way."

Fear the Walking Dead is a spin-off prequel set in Los Angeles and will follow the start of the zombie outbreak with a first season of 6 episodes starring Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane and Ruben Blades.

It will be followed by the 6th season of The Walking Dead starting on 11 October in America and shown very soon after on FOX International Channel's FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131).

The Walking Dead spin-off will not be seen on FOX in South Africa but on AMC on DStv and on StarSat with episodes shown 24 hours after the USA.

You're reading it here first.

The as-yet-untitled upcoming spin-off zombie series of The Walking Dead will be broadcast on AMC (StarSat 115 / DStv 140) in South Africa and not on FOX with episodes which will be shown within 24 hours here after the United States, once the new drama starts later this year.

The impact for South African pay-TV subscribers is negligent since the recently renamed and rebranded MGM channel, now AMC since December 2014, just like FOX, is carried on both MultiChoice's DStv and on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat.

The big winner however is AMC, from AMC Networks International Zone, which is dramatically strengthening its channel positioning and brand in South Africa, and getting its first-ever "event television" type show.

The new The Walking Dead spin-off produced by AMC Studios, is set in Los Angeles and will definitely run for at least two seasons. It will focus on new characters and new stories, with a first season of 6 hour long episodes.

AMC acquired the international television rights to the spin-off show and will broadcast episodes - similar to The Walking Dead on FOX which concludes its 5th season at the end of March - within 24 hours after episodes premiere in the United States, similar to what FOX and M-Net has been doing with certain tentpole TV shows.

The only drawback is that South African viewers won't be able to see the new The Walking Dead spin-off in high definition as has been the case with FOX which is an HD channel on DStv.

Viewers will also not have to juggle trying to watch two shows - the drama series won't overlap and will always be shown during different times of the year.

Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert from The Walking Dead are the executive producers of the new series.

"We take incredibly seriously the notion of building a satisfying companion series to the number one show on television," says Charlie Collier, AMC president in a statement.

"From the beginning of The Walking Dead, we've been asked questions about what was going on in other parts of the zombie apocalypse, and what it looked like as the world really did 'turn'. Through this new series, we're going to find out," says Charlie Collier.

"I'm very grateful that we now have the opportunity to tell this amazing story and show the fans that we really haven't scratched the surface yet when it comes to The Walking Dead," says Robert Kirkman.