The Walking Dead: World Beyond will only run for two seasons

If you’re a Walking Dead fan already itching for more during season 10 hiatus, then we’ve got some great news for you! AMC has announced that its second Walking Dead spinoff — The Walking Dead: World Beyond — will premiere on Sunday, April 12 at 10:00 p.m. EST. New episodes will air every Sunday after that at 9:00 p.m.

World Beyond will follow “two young female protagonists and focus on the first generation to come-of-age in the apocalypse as we know it,” according to AMC. “Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. In the end, all of them will be changed forever.”

Basically, it’s The Walking Dead: The New Class.

Just like its predecessors — The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead — World Beyond has an ensemble cast. Since so many of the characters are teenagers, a lot of them are newcomers to the business.

• Alexa Mansour (Unfriended: Dark Web) as Hope
• Nicolas Cantu (Dora and Friends: Into the City!) as Elton
• Hal Cumpston as Silas
• Aliyah Royale (Attached at the Soul) as Iris
• Annet Mahendru (The Americans) as Huck
• Nico Tortorella (Fluidity) as Felix
• Julia Ormond (Howards End) as Elizabeth
• Joe Holt (Batman: Arkham City) as Leo Bennet
• Natalie Gold (Succession) as Lyla
• Al Calderon (Person of Interest) as Barca
• Scott Adsit (30 Rock) as Tony
• Ted Sutherland (The Duece) as Percy

AMC has released four new photos to go along with the release date announcement. Let’s have a look:

Alexa Mansour as Hope, Aliyah Royale as Iris, Hal Cumpston as Silas, Nicolas Cantu as Elton, Annet Mahendru as Huck – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1 – Photo Credit: Macall Polay/AMC

Here’s Hope, Iris, Silas, Elton and Huck preparing a makeshift boat or something. Careful, gang: walkers like to hang out at the bottom of lakes just waiting for a juicy piece of meat to float by.

Nico Tortorella as Felix – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1 – Photo Credit: Jojo Whilden/AMC

Felix teaches his students how to survive a zombie apocalypse. See, now this I would have paid attention to in high school.

Annet Mahendru as Huck, Aliyah Royale as Iris, Alexa Mansour as Hope – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1 – Photo Credit: Zach Dilgard/AMC

Here we have Huck, Iris, and hope holding someone at gunpoint.

And finally, here’s a group of walkers just milling about, living their best lives. By the by, what does one call a group of zombies? A horde? An infestation? A plague? Let’s just go with a gaggle.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1 – Photo Credit: Macall Polay/AMC

The Walking Dead: World Beyond is co-created by The Walking Dead boss Scott Gimple, with Matthew Negrete serving as showrunner.

Something interesting about World Beyond is that, unlike the mothership show, which seems like it’s going to lumber on until it dies from sheer exhaustion, this new show has an expiration date: as confirmed by Forbes, The Walking Dead: World Beyond will consist of two 10-season episodes, and then it’s over.

Apparently this is all part of AMC’s new strategy. Said exec Sarah Barnett at the TCAs:

"What we’re doing next is experimenting. We’re making a movie with Universal featuring the Rick Grimes character. And the third television series in this universe, World Beyond, focuses on the generation of survivors who have grown up post-apocalypse. Led by two young female leads, it is a perfect advancing of the universe in ways that are multi-generational, fresh and unexpected. It is not imitating The Walking Dead either in substance or form – World Beyond is a two-season closed-ended series that will tell a very specific and distinct story. Scott Gimple, the chief content officer of this universe, and his team are planning other experiments in this space, including specials, digital short-form series and other innovations in form."

Well, if AMC is determined to keep growing The Walking Dead universe, it might as well get creative.

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h/t SyFy Wire