The world of The Walking Dead got a little bigger when The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1 premiered in June. The six-episode series features Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in a race to save Maggie’s son from a mysterious villain who calls New York City his home. After a warm reception, the series is off to a good start and that’s a good sign that the show could get a second season.
Variety reported that The Walking Dead: Dead City delivered the biggest premiere to date on AMC’s streaming platform, AMC Plus, and about 2 million viewers on the network in the first three days of measurement.
The previous record holder, incidentally, was the premiere episode of The Walking Dead’s final season in October 2022.
"Survive here, survive anywhere. What an incredible start for this series — the #1 season premiere in the history of AMC Plus — and for the next chapter in The Walking Dead Universe, with three new shows focused on iconic characters in intriguing and novel locations," said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, in a statement. "Thanks to the best fans in television for joining Maggie and Negan for the beginning of this thrilling ride through the streets of Manhattan, to stars and executive producers Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and to Scott M. Gimple, Eli Jorné, Brian Bockrath and everyone who brought Dead City very much to life. There’s so much more to come over the course of this season. Here we go!"
Dead City is the first of three new spinoffs set in the TWD Universe based on characters from the flagship show. In addition to Maggie and Negan’s story, Norman Reedus will continue his character’s journey in France later this year with The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and then Rick and Michonne’s story will continue as Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira reunite for a spinoff series that’s tentatively being referred to as TWD: Summit.
Dead City continues to perform well. The show has an 86% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a 7.7/10 rating on IMDB.
With the season finale coming up on July 23 it seems all but certain that the show will return for a second season. In fact, it’s quite possible that news of a renewal will come from San Diego Comic-Con, as the TWD Universe has a two-hour panel in Hall H on Friday.
AMC is invested in furthering The Walking Dead franchise beyond the flagship series and continuing the characters’ stories in new and exciting adventures. The Walking Dead: Dead City is the first of three news spinoffs for the network and given the show’s warm reception and success, we can safely say that a second season is a safe bet.
