'The Walking Dead' showrunner reacts to AMC revealing the 'Maggie and Negan' spinoff before the show ends: 'That's above my pay grade'
- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the season 11b finale of "The Walking Dead."
- AMC recently announced Negan and Maggie will get their own spinoff well ahead of the show's finale.
"The Walking Dead" showrunner Angela Kang wasn't expecting the news of the upcoming Maggie and Negan spinoff, "Isle of the Dead," to be announced in March as the final season airs.
"I definitely — when we were writing the season and filming it, we did not know that it was going to be announced," Kang told Insider over Zoom last week while discussing Sunday's finale — the second of three for the show's final, 11th season — while acknowledging that she "can't really comment" on those announcements.
Late on Sunday's finale, Leah (Lynn Collins) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) face off in an intense, all-out fight. It's a thrlling moment to watch, especially because Leah gets the upperhand at one point where it really looks like it could be the end for Maggie's character.
However, March's pre-mature announcement of the spinoff lessened the stakes of, what should've been, a tense moment since fans knew going into the episode that Cohan's character will appear in next year's spinoff.
When Insider asked Kang if she wished the spinoff wasn't announced until after Sunday's finale so that the stakes would've felt a bit higher for Maggie's safety, Kang said, "Maybe things would've been handled a little differently, but, you know, that's above my pay grade."
The fifth "TWD" spinoff to be announced, "Isle of the Dead" will follow former rivals Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie as they travel to a post-apocalyptic New York City. Filming on the six-episode first season is set to begin later this year with an expected 2023 debut on AMC and the network's streaming service AMC+.
Morgan previously shared his shock over the announcement that AMC announced his "Walking Dead" spinoff before the show's upcoming series' finale during an appearance on the "Rich Eisen Show."
"I guess we know that Negan doesn't die," Morgan said, adding, "Sorry. I'm still not sure why we announced that already. It was sort of a shocker to me."
"TWD" writer and co-executive producer Eli Jorné will serve as showrunner and executive producer on "Isle of the Dead." Cohan and Morgan will serve as executive producers.
Last summer, AMC surprisingly announced fan-favorites Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) will also be getting a spinoff that is set to air in 2023, as well. Kang will oversee that series.
The news of two "TWD" spinoffs months before the series' conclusion has left some fans frustrated that the network has appeared to flippantly reveal the fates of four main cast members who will make it through the forthcoming series' finale alive, slightly lowering the stakes for the remaining eight episodes.