Scott Gimple joined The Walking Dead in season 2 as a writer and producer. By the time the show reached its fourth season, he had become showrunner. And by season 8, he handed showrunner duties to Angela Kang and became the franchise's chief content officer, overseeing the entire Walking Dead Universe, spinoffs and all.
All of this is to say, his word holds a lot of weight when it comes to anything Walking Dead-related. So why are we talking about him? Well, during an appearance at the Saturn Awards, he discussed his vision for the future of The Walking Dead franchise and how it differs from that of Robert Kirkman, the creator of the original Walking Dead comics.
Originally, Kirkman pitched the comic as a 'zombie story that never ends.' Usually in the genre, either humanity finds a cure to the zombie plague, everyone dies, or there's some other sort of definitive conclusion. But Kirkman wanted to stretch the story beyond audience expectations. He would eventually end the comic in 2019 with a somewhat happy ending (or about as happy as it could get fo those characters, at least). The original Walking Dead TV show also ended in 2022, with one big difference: the TV universe continues through a number of spinoffs.
Kirkman has since moved on fromThe Walking Dead . But Gimple has picked up on Kirkman's original pitch: he never wants the franchise to die. From Daryl Dixon's adventures in France to Maggie and Negan in New York City, The Walking Dead has expanded its horizons massively since the end of the original show.
“Robert Kirkman, when he initially pitched the comic to Image, it was a zombie movie that would never end," Gimple said, per Collider. "He would always see it in zombie movies and be like, ‘Wait, what happens after that?’ And it was a brilliant idea and then Robert's own brilliance of character and novelty, incredible dialogue, it hooked me as a comic creator and even though I was working on the show when this happened, when he stopped the comic, I was bummed out because I wanted that zombie movie that never ends so we're picking up the torch, and we're trying to do that.”
While droves of fans have ducked out over the years, The Walking Dead still has a loyal fanbase. As long as the viewers are there, Gimple vows to keep the series on air for as long as possible. “It's hard in a world where there's a billion TV shows, but yes, the goal is to always have Walking Dead shows on the air and to have those shows that feature the characters people love and then take those chances and be experimental and do new things with other shows,” he said.
2025 will continue to drive The Walking Dead universe forward with Dead City season 2 and Daryl Dixon season 3.
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