In 2020, AMC announced out of nowhere that their flagship series The Walking Dead was going to end with its eleventh season. This came as a shock to everyone, including the cast members.
When fans heard that the show was officially drawing to a close, it took a while for the news to sink in. Season 11 was always likely to be the final chapter in the series since it would adapt the Commonwealth storyline, which is the final arc in the comics. However, in the past, executives had said that the show could continue for upwards of 20 seasons.
Speaking to Insider, star Ross Marquand (Aaron) explained that shortly before the news broke, the team was holding discussions about plans for additional seasons. “Just a short time before we were talking about plans for season 12 and beyond,” he said. He didn’t know what those plans entailed and probably never will.
Perhaps to soften the blow of ending their beloved series, AMC followed up the news by announcing that they had two spinoff shows in development: an anthology series called Tales of The Walking Dead and a Daryl-Carol show. Furthermore, they confirmed that the final season would consist of a whopping 24 episodes, rather than the customary 16. “I was buoyed by the fact that they were gonna be adding eight additional episodes and really telling the story the best way they knew how with this extra elongated season,” Marquand said.
Ultimately, Marquand was satisfied with how AMC decided to go about ending the show: “Based on everything they told me, I was actually excited by the end of the phone call, as opposed to being very crestfallen at the beginning. But yeah, it hit me like a ton of bricks when I first got that call.”
The Walking Dead star Lynn Collins discusses Leah’s future
Despite only appearing in The Walking Dead for a few episodes, Leah (Lynn Collins) has played a big part. After meeting Daryl (Norman Reedus) in the season 10 episode “Find Me,” the two began to form a relationship. Then she went missing. When we meet her again in season 11, it turns out that she’s a Reaper. And after our group defeats the Reapers, Leah is left to her own devices. Will she return? We don’t know.
With that said, Collins is keen to come back. “I’d say yes to anything that this group would ask me to do,” she told Digital Spy. “Absolutely.”
"I want more with Norman (Reedus). I want more with Lauren. I want more. I’m sure, you know, we all want more. Isn’t this the human condition? More, more, more!"
It’s also possible that she could show up in a spinoff. We’ve already seen characters crossover from The Walking Dead into Fear the Walking Dead and World Beyond.
The Walking Dead is currently airing a batch of eight new episodes. You can catch them Sundays on AMC. Or if you’re an AMC+ subscriber, new episodes drop one week early.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels