Apparently AMC has not allowed the ever-diminishing viewership for its Walking Dead franchise (something I refer to as The Walking Dexit) to cause it to lose faith in the property because they have given Fear the Walking Dead an eighth season renewal. That show is currently at all-time ratings lows based on same-day viewing, but as I have previously mentioned, its fate is no longer dictated by the early Nielsen numbers. It has passed the syndication stretch and is guaranteed to live on in reruns where shows really turn a profit. So even if AMC is not making as much on ad revenue from new episodes, it will recoup that and more down the road. I had previously suggested that the show’s seventh season could be its last or that it could return for an eighth and final year. There is no word at this point on whether the new season could be its last, but it appears that AMC has not given up on the show just yet. They will be bringing back fan-favorite Kim Dickens as Madison Clark during the second half of the seventh season which resumes new episodes April 17th. There has been a fair amount of grumbling among fans about the current direction of the show, and bringing Dickens back may be a way to try and boost viewership. But there is still a chance that the eighth season could be announced as the show’s last at some point. The Walking Dead will be coming to an end with its eleventh season which is currently airing (new episodes resume in February), and an anthology series titled Tales of the Walking Dead is currently in the works with a Carol and Daryl spin-off show possibly coming as well.
Fear the Walking Dead started out as a prequel to TWD, taking place during the early days of the zombie outbreak. It has since caught up to the parent series and has even brought over cross-over chracters like Morgan and Dwight. It stars Rubén Blades, Colman Domingo, Lennie James, Maggie Grace, Austin Amelio, and Kim Dickens.
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I think at this point, it is fairly obvious what AMC is doing with this renewal. I believe that it will also be announced as the last, and will probably run concurrently with the second half of OG Walking Dead, with the intent of ending at the same time. Having just watched the series finale of World Beyond, I am fairly certain now that the entire purpose of the series was the establish the CRM as the final “big bad” for every series. All three shows have connections to the CRM, and as of the finale of World Beyond, not only is the CRM intact, but maybe even worse now that Anne (Jadis) is head of the military. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that nuke from Fear somehow come into play.
In other news Amazon has has announced a new ‘The Boys’ animated anthology series called “Diabolical.”
https://deadline.com/2021/12/the-boys-diabolical-prime-video-the-boys-animated-anthology-series-1234885000/
Also of interest on Amazon is a one-off documentary special detailing William Shatner‘s space trip on Blue Origin called “Shatner in Space” premiering on Dec. 15th in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Other territories will be added in early 2022″
https://deadline.com/2021/12/shatner-in-space-william-shatners-flight-blue-origin-amazon-special-1234885216/