TWD's Lauren Cohan Claims Dead City 'Refreshes The Scare Level' Of The Franchise

With the long-running AMC hit "The Walking Dead" officially dead and buried, fans now have numerous spin-off titles to look forward to. One such series goes by the title "The Walking Dead: Dead City" and comes courtesy of creator Eli Jorné. The show focuses on "TWD" franchise staples Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) as they venture to Manhattan, New York, in search of her son Hershel. According to Cohan herself, fans can expect plenty of scares during this post-apocalyptic rescue mission.

"It's very scary. It kind of refreshes the scare level of that world. So I'm very excited," Cohan told Decider in an interview promoting "Dead City" and the final season of The Walking Dead." Upon reading the script, it became crystalized that the spin-off will indeed bring the franchise back to its horror roots. She adds that Negan and Maggie will very much be out of their element as they navigate a dangerous and terrifying urban environment. They're a long way from Georgia, and she looks forward to exploring her character in new ways and putting her up against new challenges after all these years.

It's good to know that "Dead City" will bring back the horror edge of "Walking Dead," seeing as many fans are confused about why it seemed to disappear from the original series.

Theoretically, "The Walking Dead" should be one of the scariest media franchises out there. It's about zombies, oppressive governments, death, and other things that would give anyone a good fright. The first few episodes of the original series were quite scary, in all fairness. However, as the years have gone on, "TWD" at large has mostly moved away from creeping audiences out. For some viewers that are heavily invested in the living characters and their stories, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but many others can't help but wonder where the saga's horror edge went.

Redditor u/TrainerAppropriate19 wrote up a thread on this exact topic, with many "Walking Dead" viewers chiming in to try and explain why the original show got less scary. "They've been living in a post apocalyptic world for almost a decade and the threat and experiences of having to navigate a world that has fallen, is no longer scary to them," commented u/jayfav07, with u/WhySoSerious37912 adding that the walkers become weaker over time and the survivors improve at killing. Others argue that the original series' main cast becomes invincible, robbing it of its unpredictable, tense nature.

For those disappointed that "The Walking Dead" abandoned its horror roots some, hopefully, "The Walking Dead: Dead City" and the numerous other impending spin-offs will fix that in the near future.