The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 2 will “feel much different”

The first season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond ended on a high note, and the producers promise more hits to come in season 2.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond just wrapped up its first season, and the second (and final) isn’t too far off. While the series got off to a rough start, it righted itself by the end and finished pretty strong this past Sunday. We may not have gotten any new info on Rick Grimes, but we do seem on the cusp of learning more about The Walking Dead universe, with the CRM actually trying to cure the zombie virus and rebuild society.

We’ll have to wait for season 2 to see how that plays out, and showrunner Matt Negrete assured fans that twists and turns were on the way. “I’ve just tonally been thinking about Season 2 as Chapter 2 of a two-chapter book,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “But the second chapter, I think, is going to feel much different. I think in this world, when you’re the age of our characters, you’re forced to grow up very quickly and forced to make these decisions that define who you are and who you’re going to become. And I really think that they’re on their way.”

"I think Season 1 was a journey in that respect emotionally, and they’ve still got some big things to face. It’s like they’ve traveled a distance and now they’re all in New York, in one area or another. Push has to come to shove now. They’re on the CRMs doorstep in a lot of ways. And the CRM, in a lot of ways, has brought the fight to them. And now I think that the role’s been reversed. And now that they realize who Huck is, they know more about what they’re up against."

As we learned in the penultimate episode of season 1, Huck (Annet Mahendru) turned out to be a spy for the CRM, a network of three communities run by her mother. She was responsible for delivering an “asset” to the CRM, which turned out to be none other than Hope (Alexa Mansour), a genius the CRM needs to ensure a future for mankind.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Negrete praised the young cast, who did a good job of quickly stepping into their roles and making them feel distinct. “As writers, we’re always trying to see what the actors are bringing to the characters, and write to that,” he said. “I haven’t spent a lot of time online. I appreciate the fans for being engaged and having strong opinions about the universe. I think that’s what all engaged fans should have. But I’ll say this: the show was always designed to evolve. It was always going to start with simpler stories and have the stakes grow and grow. Going into Season 2, it’s really about continuing that evolution and amping up the stakes, providing answers to some questions still lingering at the end of Season 1, and going forth from there.”

But it can’t evolve too much: remember, this show is only going to be two seasons long. Scott Gimple, who’s in charge of the entire Walking Dead universe, says that was always the plan. “We needed to be very cognizant of it with every step we took forward,” he said. “Season 2 establishes three very different worlds that are connected, but tenuously. And they couldn’t be more different, each one of these worlds.”

"Beyond that, we wanted to complete the vibe of these characters growing up. Twenty episodes is a little tough for growing up, but people do that in movies that are an hour and a half. It’s different for Matt and I coming from where we came from, but challenge accepted. We’re getting near the end of the journey from a writing standpoint. We’re liking how it’s going."

So what exactly can we expect from The Walking Dead: World Beyond when it returns? Will there be any sort of time jump? (Because we all love those.) “From a conceptual standpoint, I’ve always loved starting seasons with a time jump,” Negrete said. “But there’s some pretty urgent business to attend to coming off the end of season 1. We have Hope heading towards the research facility. She’s hoping to be reunited with her father. There’d be some things we wouldn’t want to skip over. Let’s put it like that. It’s definitely a reunion that we want to see and want to capture and feel.”

We also leave with Iris and Felix meeting Will; we’re going to have to find out who he’s with, what he’s gone through, and what he knows. And Iris doesn’t just want to see her father; she wants to help her sister Hope, who turned herself over to the CRM. So there’s quite a lot the show will have to deal with right at the top. A time jump might help explain why the young actors have suddenly had growth spurts, but it’s probably not feasible considering where the show left things.

And there are other questions: How will this story end, and will Rick Grimes be a part of it (seriously, that’s all I want to know)? Happily, season 2 is coming along in 2021, so the wait won’t be too agonizingly long.

Until then, we have the additional episodes of The Walking Dead season 10 to look forward to, premiering in February. I know we’re all excited for that Negan-centric episode starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s actual wife, Hilarie Burton, as Negan’s wife Lucille. Yep, there will be plenty of Walking Dead action to go around next year.

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h/t SYFY Wire