After Daryl Dixon & Dead City, This Is The TV Series The Walking Dead Needs In 2026

The Walking Dead's long-term future is far from clear, but I'm convinced this is what the franchise's 2026 should look like. AMC has been dropping The Walking Dead content on a conveyor belt since 2010, continuing to do so even after the main show ended. The Walking Dead season 11's finale was followed by a trio of spinoffs - Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live - and while those new shows guaranteed the franchise's future back in 2022, the upcoming three years look decidedly less assured.

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 is next on the schedule, and will be swiftly followed by Daryl Dixon season 3, with both spinoffs confirmed to arrive in 2025. What comes next remains a mystery. With no new shows announced and future seasons of existing spinoffs not yet green-lit, The Walking Dead currently has nothing lined up - publicly, at least - for 2026, marking a concerning shift compared to the days when it felt like a new project was entering development every other week. Assuming AMC's zombie apocalypse continues into 2026, however, this is the project that needs to happen next.

The Walking Dead's Next Project Must Be A Crossover

The Walking Dead Needs All Shows To Unite In 2026

The Walking Dead's next project after Daryl Dixon season 3 should take the form of a crossover event that brings together characters from across the franchise. The amount of teases, hints, and unresolved stories accumulated from The Walking Dead's various shows has reached a tipping point that can no longer be ignored. Resolution is needed, and the best way to do that is through a crossover that incorporates the most important characters from each show.

Bringing the whole gang together in a crossover would be the easiest way to finally deliver upon all of those narrative promises.

The Walking Dead season 11 mentioned a new villain group called Designation 2 that has yet to be formally introduced, while also raising questions over the arrival (or, indeed, the return) of zombie variants. Fear the Walking Dead's ending set up Morgan returning to the main group, with other survivors like Madison and Alicia Clark potentially joining him at Alexandria. World Beyond dropped groundbreaking revelations about how The Walking Dead's zombie outbreak started, so must now explain what Primrose Team is, why the virus was developed, and whether the Bennett family's fungi weapon can end the undead for good.

Daryl Dixon still needs a Rick Grimes reunion and resolution over his teased romance with Connie, the "PPP" mystery present in both the main show and Tales of the Walking Dead needs addressing, and The Ones Who Live revealed the CRM's scientific prediction that humanity only has 14 years left to survive - a huge bombshell that affects everyone in The Walking Dead's universe.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Ones Who Live with a clock and silhouette in the background

Rick Grimes' Spinoff Ending Made A Future Walking Dead Crossover Way More Likely

The conclusion of Rick Grimes' spinoff set the protagonist up for a permanent return, making the chances of a Walking Dead crossover much more likely.

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The Walking Dead has spent more than five years providing questions faster than answers, and that pile will inevitably grow larger once Dead City season 2 and Daryl Dixon season 3 land. Bringing the whole gang together in a crossover would be the easiest way to finally deliver upon all of those narrative promises, and the wait has gone on long enough. Now already feels like a natural time to unite the franchise's heroes, and after 2025's releases, a crossover will become impossible for The Walking Dead to keep dodging indefinitely.

The Walking Dead's Crossover Clues Are Hurting The Individual Spinoffs

Too Many Teases In The Walking Dead Have Been Wasted

Lennie James as Morgan using a walkie talkie in Fear The Walking Dead. — Lennie James as Morgan using a walkie talkie in Fear The Walking Dead

Each of The Walking Dead's various TV shows brings something worthwhile to the franchise, but the overall shared universe suffers from a feeling of disconnection. Thus far, a clue or tease in one show has generally been ignored by the next. After Fear the Walking Dead ended with Morgan resolving to seek out Rick Grimes, it was widely believed that Lennie James' character would be involved in The Ones Who Live. That prediction was ultimately disproved. When World Beyond revealed the zombie outbreak began in France, it seemed that Daryl Dixon being set in France would mean tackling the fallout of that massive reveal. This prediction was also proved wrong.

The list of similar examples goes on - instances where one show in The Walking Dead's arsenal readies a bullet that the next release simply decides not to fire. It often feels like different areas of The Walking Dead aren't communicating, but the entire purpose of turning a franchise into a shared universe - which is undoubtedly what AMC's "The Walking Dead Universe" presents itself as - is crafting those interconnected stories and allowing viewers to invest in an expansive story told across multiple different projects.

The Walking Dead Spinoffs
Fear The Walking Dead
World Beyond
Tales Of The Walking Dead
Dead City
Daryl Dixon
The Ones Who Live

The sooner The Walking Dead pushes ahead with its crossover plans and fires off all the narrative rounds previous spinoffs opted not to, the sooner those spinoffs can thrive in isolation without being hampered by false expectations and unresolved hints. As an example, Gabriel's cameo in The Ones Who Live would have packed way more punch if The Walking Dead hadn't already planted the seed that Morgan would appear instead.

There Are No More Obvious Spinoffs From The Walking Dead's Main Show

Where Would The Walking Dead's Next Spinoff Star Even Come From?

Josh McDermitt as Eugene looking morose in The Walking Dead

The other reason The Walking Dead should choose the crossover route in favor of creating new spinoffs is that the spinoff well is almost dry. After Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Carol, Maggie, Negan, and Morgan, all of the main show's biggest names already have a starring credit in a spinoff venture. With all due respect to Josh McDermitt and his consistently compelling performance since joining The Walking Dead, a Eugene spinoff would not be the most exciting continuation, and the same can be said of virtually every other protagonist still alive when season 11 concluded. Shows focusing on Gabriel or Ezekiel could potentially work, but still have no obvious raison d'etre or story direction.

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Rick Grimes next to Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier, and Magna in The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Crossover Plans Now Face A Huge Obstacle Thanks To Rick Grimes

Although Rick Grimes' return to The Walking Dead franchise proved to be successful, it did create one major issue with a potential crossover show.

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Without viable alternatives for new shows, The Walking Dead's best bet for 2026 would be a return to the ensemble format that made the series famous in the first place. The crossover could then be used as a launchpad for a new generation of survivors that forms the basis of a fresh show.

What Would Happen To Dead City, Daryl Dixon & The Ones Who Live?

A Walking Dead crossover happening in 2026 would not hinder the development of AMC's existing spinoffs in any measurable way. With Dead City season 2 chronicling Maggie's mission to rescue Negan, that particular project already feels like an isolated two-part narrative, negating the need for season 3 to happen at all. Even if Daryl and Carol return home to take part in 2026's crossover after Daryl Dixon season 3, they could still set off on another adventure thereafter, meaning Daryl Dixon season 4 would remain on the table.

A 2026 crossover could only be considered a positive thing.

There is currently no word on whether The Ones Who Live season 2 will happen, but a 2026 crossover would mean it doesn't need to. Since The Ones Who Live season 1 ended with Rick safely back in Alexandria,a second season would effectively act as The Walking Dead season 12, featuring most of the old gang. The Walking Dead would then, temptingly, be only a few faces short of a crossover anyway. A 2026 reunion would easily be able to cover whatever ground might have been reserved for a potential The One Who Live season 2.

In terms of The Walking Dead's existing spinoffs, therefore, a 2026 crossover could only be considered a positive thing. No plans or story arcs would need to be scrapped in order for the big team-up to transpire, and as a bonus, any future seasons of Dead City, Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live would be liberated by the clean slate a crossover would create.