'The Walking Dead' Announces Fifth Spinoff Series 'Isle of the Dead'
The six-episode installment will take place in New York City.
AMC on Monday announced that The Walking Dead will receive its fifth spinoff series, titled Isle of the Dead.
The upcoming six-episode show will star Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in their flagship roles as Maggie and Negan, respectively. The series envisions the aforementioned characters “traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland,” according to a press release. The fallen cityscape is inhabited by a population of dead and denizens who have turned New York City into an entirely new place “full of anarchy, danger, beauty and terror.”
Eli Jorné, a longtime writer and producer on The Walking Dead, will serve as showrunner and producer on the series, as part of his overall deal with AMC Studios.
“I’m thrilled to partner with Dan McDermott and the team at AMC on the next chapter in The Walking Dead Universe,” Cohan said in a statement. “Maggie is very close to my heart and I’m excited to continue her journey against the iconic backdrop of New York City, alongside my friend and collaborator, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Eli Jorné has created something incredibly special and I cannot wait for the fans to see what we have in store for Maggie and Negan.”
Isle of the Dead will arrive as the fifth effort in the Walking Dead universe, following the anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead, the previously-concluded Walking Dead: World Beyond, Fear the Walking Dead, which is headed into its seventh season, and an upcoming, untitled drama series starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride.
“This is a very big day for the expanding universe we are building around The Walking Dead,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, in a statement. “It not only adds another compelling series to this collection, it extends our storytelling around two unforgettable characters fans have grown to love, hate or hate and then love in Maggie and Negan, brilliantly inhabited by Lauren and Jeffrey. It also lets us explore a corner of this universe located on the island of Manhattan, with an iconic skyline that takes on a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of a zombie apocalypse.”
Isle of the Dead is slated to premiere in 2023 on AMC+ and AMC. Stay tuned for more information.
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