AMC is launching a third Walking Dead series

The Walking Dead’s ratings are lower than ever, and yet it looks like the series about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse will never die. AMC is back with an as-yet-untitled third Walking Dead series, and this time, it’s focused on two young women growing up with the undead. Filming of the first 10 episodes is set to begin in Virginia this summer, and the show is scheduled to premiere on AMC in 2020.

“We believe in the underlying vitality of The Walking Dead universe,” AMC’s Sarah Barnett told Variety. “This show just continues to be an incredible boon for us. It’s something another cable or streaming network would actually kill for.” Barnett explained that the two protagonists were chosen because audiences seemed to like the young women in the original Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead series.

The show is being created by Scott Gimple, chief content officer for The Walking Dead franchise, and Matt Negrete, a longtime Walking Dead writer and producer who will also double as the showrunner. “Showing audiences an unseen pocket of The Walking Dead Universe steeped in a new mythology is a very cool way to celebrate a ‘Decade of the Dead’ on TV and over fifteen years of Robert Kirkman’s brilliant comic,” Gimple says. It’s unclear whether Kirkman will be involved in the new series.

While details of the plot are very slim, the new series will be about women who are coming of age during the apocalypse, some responding to the gore and torture by committing heinous acts of their own and others performing heroic feats instead. “In the end, all of them will be changed forever. Grown-up and cemented in their identities, both good and bad,” a press release announcing the series says.

AMC is also counting on The Walking Dead franchise to bring in ad revenue, especially during post-Super Bowl Sundays and Thanksgiving. It’s been an extremely profitable franchise, even with many old fans abandoning the series.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/8/18300511/walking-dead-series-fear-amc-robert-kirkman-new-show