With its first season premiered on October 31, 2010, The Walking Dead has completed 10 years of survival under the zombie apocalypse.
The famous season features a large cast as survivors of the post-apocalyptic horrors, trying to survive under the perpetual threat of attacks from the zombies.
Along with zombies, these survivors also face conflicts with each other as the end of the world has divided the living side into different communities with their own values and morals. The clashes often materialize between these communities, leading to hostile wars.
The lead character of Rick Grimes was played by Andrew Lincoln until he departed from the show during the ninth season. The other core cast members of the show include Dania Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Christian Serrator, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, and Josh McDermitt.
In the United States, the show is exclusively aired on AMC. The series premiered its 10th season on October 6, 2019. Although the ninth and tenth season observed a drop in ratings, the show is being renewed for the 11th and the final season as confirmed by AMC.
The showrunner Angela Kang has also hinted towards the release of extra six episodes at the New York Comic Con on October 5, 2019. She said that “if everything goes well” these episodes will air by the end of 2021, while season 11 will presumably release in 2022.
Kang further told Comicbook.com that due to the ongoing pandemic, the team is trying to work out of the box to work on the future season remotely. The shooting will apparently start before the year ends.
Read on to find out more about the release date, cast, and major news about the upcoming 11th season of The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead Season 11 – Release Date
As of now, it’s hard to say anything conclusive about the release date of The Walking Dead as the show was set to start filming in May but due to the interruptions caused by Covid-19, the shoot has not kicked-off yet.
However, in august, John Sapan, CEO of AMC mentioned that the cast and crew of the series are set to unite in October for the shooting of season 11.
Although the showrunner Kang has told the fans that the airing of season 11 can be expected in late 2022, fans have to wait a while before the showrunners release any specific details about the release of season 11.
But on the bright side, Kang also said in various interviews that fans can look forward to an extra six episodes by the end of 2021. Isn’t it truly a treat?
Angela Kang explained that these episodes will focus on the individual journeys of the core characters and are designed and filmed considering the rules of social distancing. She further quoted while commenting about the episodes that each episode will “dive deeply into the characters”. She explained the nature of episodes to be “anthology-like storytelling”
As for the release date of both season 11 and additional episodes, it is still unknown, but fans are eagerly anticipating the arrival of season 11 as the final episodes of the preceding season left some major cliffhangers after Maggie made a surprising appearance.
Cast of The Walking Dead Season 11
Excluding the possibility that six bonus episode might include some surprises, the fans can expect to see all the familiar faces in the final run of The Walking Dead including Khary Payton as Ezekiel, Ross Marquand as Aaron, Norman Reedus as Daryl, Melissa McBridge as Carol, Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Christian Serratos as Rosita, and Josh McDermitt as Eugene.
Hilarie Burton has recently been revealed by the AMC to play the character of the ill-fated wife of Negan, Lucille. We have only yet heard her name as Negan has named his vicious bat after her. Fans are impatiently awaiting her arrival in the show.
While it’s most likely that she will make an appearance in the bonus episodes, there has been no comment whatsoever from the showrunners about her featuring in the 11th season.
Moreover, as per some rumors, Andrew Lincoln can also make an appearance as Rick Grimes in the season’s finale. As Norman Reedus hinted that he has been trying to persuade his ex-co-star to return for the wrap-up of the show.
After the dramatic return of the fan-favorite character, Maggie Rhee, in the previous season, it is most likely that Lauren Cohan will also star in the 11th season. Talking to the reporters at Comic-Con she termed her arrival at the show to be “completely surreal.”
Latest News About the Walking Dead Season 11: What to Expect?
Since the story has drifted far away from the original comics, it is unlikely that the fans will pick up any spoilers from the comics. At this stage, tracing the definite lines of the plot is difficult, but one thing is probable that Maggie’s character is going to have a great arc.
Kang teased at the New York Comic Con that she has got “some major stuff” planned for Maggie. We can also expect to see some friction between the characters of Maggie and Negan.
The showrunner also said that the upcoming bonus episodes will be less crowded as they cannot have 300 zombie extras on set due to the pandemic. But she added that they are trying to be innovative with scenes to create the “really scary, really emotional, and really cool” episodes while adhering to the Covid-19 safety rules.
She further teased that: “the episodes are creatively filmed following the safety guidelines during this pandemic we are in. There is a feel of anthological storytelling about every episode. They take deep dive into characters, which I wish people will enjoy.”
Although The Walking Dead is about to end with its final season airing in 2022, the show is planning to stay alive as AMC is already working on the latest spinoff series, The Tales Of The Walking Dead which will cover the backstories and standalone experiences of both new and existing characters.
If you are a big The Walking Dead fan, then you have a lot to look forward to as the finale of the series will result in more premiers and the walking dead will live.
