Over the last 14 years, Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple has built one of the most formidable franchises in TV, encompassing several projects and spinoffs, including the latest entry, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. And Gimple has made it clear that he doesn’t want things to end in a snap.
During the TCA winter tour in February, Gimple talked about wanting the franchise’s universe to one day have a crossover event. With Marvel’s 2019 film Avengers: Endgame being one of the most successful crossovers ever, ADWEEK recently asked Gimple what he’d want from his own hypothetical Walking Dead: Endgame.
Gimple explained the franchise would take a different approach.
“Endgame was really the end of a massive era for Marvel, and I’m not looking to end an era here. I want to keep going,” Gimple told ADWEEK. “[Walking Dead comic creator] Robert Kirkman pitched the zombie movie that never ends. I do not want this to end.”
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is undoubtedly one of the most successful entertainment franchises ever; however, with its decades of interlocking films and stories, critics and viewers have complained that the MCU can be overwhelming, especially for new fans.
In Gimple’s case, he’d want any Walking Dead crossover to be accessible to all viewers.
“If we get to do that big crossover, your enjoyment shouldn’t be dependent on knowing the ins and outs of the last 14 years,” Gimple said. “If you do know them, I think you’ll get something extra. I just want to invite everybody to every entertainment that we create.”
Keep on Walking
If Gimple is leading up to a crossover event, he’s on the right track with The Ones Who Live.
The new six-episode series bringing Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes and Danai Gurira’s Michonne back together for an epic zombie love story is already a hit with viewers, delivering nearly 3 million premiere night viewers in Nielsen live+3 ratings, the biggest premiere night audience for a new AMC series in six years.
With the rise in streaming and OTT, TV has drastically changed since the Rick Grimes-centered project was originally announced in 2018, even down to the marketing.