As The Walking Dead nears its final days ahead of the premiere of season 11’s second half, the fact that the franchise will continue in the form of many potential spin-offs should not prevent the original show from having a definitive ending. Much like every production that lasted this long, The Walking Dead suffered from losing some of its stars along the way, including Rick Grimes’ actor Andrew Lincoln. Even so, the series managed to keep going with the help of beloved characters such as Daryl, Carol, and the returning Maggie.
Spin-offs are nothing new to The Walking Dead universe. Back when the show was still in its fifth year, the first spin-off Fear The Walking Dead began to air. Five years later, The Walking Dead: World Beyond also came to be yet only lasting two seasons. Now, as the original show heads towards its final episodes, a handful of spin-offs are being discussed with two already very much confirmed. One is a series focused on Daryl and Carol while the other, Tales of The Walking Dead, is an anthology show about both new and established characters.
With so many spin-offs being either announced or discussed, the final days of The Walking Dead have the challenge of not being overwhelmed by the ideas for the franchise’s future. More than serving as a back-door pilot for whatever comes next, The Walking Dead’s finale should be about closure for all the storylines and characters, especially those who have been on the show since its first seasons. Even the Daryl and Carol spin-off announcement sort of already hurts the ending of the main show as it somewhat reveals the fate of such important characters. With more than a decade of legacy to wrap up, a satisfying ending to The Walking Dead is not something easy to achieve, another reason why that should be the writer’s main focus.
Another challenge is the uncertainty about Rick’s fate. Despise being an assemble-show, one can argue that Rick was always The Walking Dead’s main character. Following Andrew Lincoln’s departure from the show, a series of movies focused on Rick Grimes was announced with no subsequent updates thus far. Finishing up the series without the presence of Rick puts another layer of challenge that The Walking Dead’s finale will have to deal with. Even if the closure on Rick’s story might be off-limits because of the proposed films, there should be at least some mention of the character by those close to him.
After 12 years on air and a massive success that not many productions can relate to, The Walking Dead deserves to have a proper ending. The brand’s potential to become a long-running franchise does not have to be ignored, but that also can’t interfere with what should be the main goal of every individual show: to tell its own story. As the long-awaited The Walking Dead series finale approaches, audiences can only hope that the ending will honor the show’s legacy.
