The Walking Dead: World Beyond - What We Know So Far

The zombie apocalypse continues its shambling march toward world domination.

AMC's Walking Dead franchise has made the leap from an isolated six-episode outbreak back in 2010 to a full-fledged media pandemic. While the flagship series has fallen far from the imperial ratings of its heyday (a result of people stopping watching The Walking Dead), the spin-off properties aren't granting any quarter. In April 2019, AMC announced that a third Walking Dead series was already well into development, and gearing up to join The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead on the small screen. This latest series joins other media expansions of the popular post-apocalyptic concept — including a slew of video games and a hotly anticipated feature film following the exploits of former Walking Dead lead zombie-killer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).

The original Walking Dead is adapted from the recently concluded comic series of the same name by Image Comics co-founder Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The story follows small-town cop Rick Grimes and a revolving cast of survivors as they struggle to navigate the world of the zombie apocalypse and begin to rebuild society. While the flagship TV series takes most of its cues from the original IP, series overlord Scott M. Gimple has expanded his telling far beyond the four corners of the comic book pages. For example, the show's first TV spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead, begins at the very outset of the zombie pandemic, covering a period of time unknown to comic book readers. (Rick Grimes was in a coma for the early days of the apocalypse.)

The newest entry into the Walking Dead world also tells a new tale. It's entitled The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and is set to portray an as-yet-unexplored part of the Walking Dead timeline. Here's what we know so far about about the forthcoming show.

The original Walking Dead series premiered a stunted first season in October 2010. Thanks to rave responses from critics and truly killer ratings, AMC renewed its undead thriller for a full-season order of 13 episodes. Now in its tenth season even after having experienced an almost complete turnover of its original cast, The Walking Dead shows no signs of stopping — not unlike, well, a zombie. Fear the Walking Dead premiered on August 23, 2015 and is now entering its sixth season, showing an equal capacity for longevity. That's already quite a bit of undead head-munching on your screen.

At the time of its 2019 announcement, AMC told the world that The Walking Dead: World Beyond was heading into production that summer on a first-season run of 10 episodes. According to Deadline, AMC had already greenlit the series for a 2020 premiere back in 2019, so it should come as no surprise that the first season is practically in the can.

AMC has since zeroed in on a final date for the cable premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Announced during Comic-Con@Home, World Beyond will debut on Sunday, October 4, 2020.

Fans are obviously eager to know the next generation of actors entering the dangerous world of The Walking Dead. Unlike past spin-offs, it doesn't appear that any actors from the previous series in the franchise will be making the journey across platform to appear on the new show. Journeyman actor Lennie James (Morgan Jones) famously made the crossing from The Walking Dead to Fear the Walking Dead by way of an arguably contrived exit story played out on the original show. The trade was made possible after the timelines of the two shows dovetailed, but don't expect any similar cameos to pop up on World Beyond.

Variety recently confirmed a trio of fresh faces who will play three of the show's young leads. Alexa Mansour (She's in Portland), Nicolas Cantu (Middle School Moguls), and Hal Cumpston (Bilched) are all set to pick up their machetes and don their survival gear as Hope, Elton, and Silas, respectively. 

Gimple has already confirmed that the show will follow two young female leads, so chances are good that Mansour will play at least one of those leading ladies. Although AMC has been cagey about the details of any of the characters to be played by these young actors, Variety's sources claim that Mansour's Hope is a "good-natured rule breaker who lives for today." Cantu's Elton is "small for his age in addition to being friendly and an old soul." And, oh, he also has a black belt in karate — didn't realize they were still giving those out in the apocalypse. Cumpston's character, Silas, appears to be a bit of a foil to Cantu's Elton. He's apparently "big for his age" and "a shy loner that scares some kids." 

According to TV Line, the three youngsters will join Annet Mahendru (The Americans) and Aliyah Royale (The Red Line), who have also been cast on the show. Mahendru will be playing a character named Huck, about whom nothing else is known. Royale's character is named Iris, and she's likely the female protagonist pair to Mansour's Hope.

Rounding out the cast are Al Calderon as Barca, Scott Adsit as Tony, Joe Holt as Leo Bennet, Nico Tortorella as Felix, Natalie Gold as Lyla, and Ted Sutherland as Percy.

Hungry for a sneak peek of the action coming soon to a TV screen near you? Good news: AMC has released several video previews to help you get pumped for The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

Shown above, the first trailer for The Walking Dead: World Beyond dropped in October 2019 and set up the premise of the show Of course, half the fun of The Walking Dead franchise has always been the plethora of supplementary content cooked up by Gimple and his mad crew. Who can forget the "mini-sodes" spawned by the flagship series: Flight 462 and Red Machete?) They don't quite qualify as self-contained stories, but some of the teaser content prepared by AMC in advance of World Beyond certainly adds detail and context to the forthcoming story. A handful of teasers for the show are available to watch on AMC's website.

Unlike the prequel series Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond is going to take us further into the future of the zombie apocalypse. Showrunner Matt Negrete is about to show us all how the next generation is handling the threat of extinction and their responsibility to continue the work of rebuilding civilization.

According to TV Line, the series takes place ten years after the start of the zombie pandemic, and follows two "young female protagonists." The two young protagonists mentioned are most likely the characters portrayed by Mansour and Royale. Mansour and Royale represent the first generation of children to "come of age" in the post-apocalyptic world of The Walking Dead. Think about that for a second: These characters have never known a world without roamers, biters, lame-brains, walkers, Negan — they're zombie natives, not zombie adaptives. Per AMC's official synopsis of the series, some will become heroes and some will become villains, but "in the end, all of them will be changed forever."

If you're already eager to find out how that pans out, be sure to tune in to the premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond on April 12, 2020 at 10 PM ET on AMC.