Is Walking Dead Franchise Building Toward An Epic All-Series Crossover? 'I Do Have Dreams Of That,' Says EP Scott Gimple

Characters from AMC's The Walking Dead and its spinoffs sure seem to be making tracks... toward one another.

Consider, if you will: The Ones Who Live has Rick and Michonne on a collision course with not only each other but World Beyond baddie Jadis. Before Fear TWD concluded, it sent off Morgan in search of his old pals. The Season 1 finale of Daryl Dixon dispatched OG Carol to find her MIA bestie. And doesn't the skyline at which Rick gazes in the Ones Who Live trailer look like it could be that of the Dead City that is the setting of Maggie and Negan's offshoot?

"I do have dreams of merging this all together...," Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer for the franchise, told TVLine on Tuesday at at The Ones Who Live's TCA winter press tour, "and I have laid little breadcrumbs toward that."

Gimple's full answer follows.

"I came into [The Walking Dead] in Season 2 as a fan of the comic and as a fan of the show, and even then I would have these dreams, these wishes, these things I wanted to do in story. And actually [a spinoff about] Rick and Michonne was one of them, that I quietly alluded to in 'Clear' (Season 3, Episode 12)."

Having made that allusion back in Season 3, "As a staff writer you're kind of like, 'Am I getting away with this?'" the CCO recalled with a chuckle. "Even on-set, Danai [Gurira, who plays Michonne] was like, 'I see what you're doing,' and I was like, 'Shhh!'

"I didn't know if I'd be able to tell that story," Gimple shared, "and you do have to be flexible, you have to have this garden of forking paths and pivot" when needed. "So when it comes to something like [an Avengers: Endgame-style, all-series crossover event], yeah, I do have dreams of merging this all together, and I have laid little breadcrumbs toward that, but you never know exactly when and how [it will come together], because of a variety of reasons.

"Dead City is a vibrant show, Daryl [Dixon] is a vibrant show, this one [The Ones Who Live] is...," Gimple noted. "I will just say that I'm building those pathways, but there could be all sorts of pivots along the way that change it. So I guess answer is yes...?"

To date, The Walking Dead has spawned six spinoffs: Fear TWD, which ended its eight-season run in November 2023; the two-season World Beyond, which wrapped in December 2021; anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead, which ran for six episodes in 2022; Dead City and Daryl Dixon, both of which have been renewed for Season 2; and The Ones Who Live, which was originally conceived as a series of movies before being downgraded to a limited series.

Before you go, stop off at the comments to answer this question: Would you like to see Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Carol, Morgan & Co. all together again?