The Walking Dead has been one of the very successful TV series, and has run impressive 11 seasons of post-apocalyptic dramas. Ironically, it was one of the shows many including myself have watched during pandemic times. The show has done so well, that they were able to create multiple spin offs while the original series was still going. I really haven't paid attention to other TWD stories. However, one story I wanted to see was the return of the main character, Rick Grimes and another leading character Michonne. I don't remember which season it was that Rick Grimes had to leave the show to spend time with family, but his story had an open ending suggesting major discoveries in TWD world. There were also rumors that hinted Rick Grimes would return in future seasons. Michonne also disappeared after Rick Grimes. Her story lead to more hints that Rick Grimes' return was still in play.
Surprisingly TWD did just fine after losing these two main characters in the story. That is probably because the show was able to build many strong and interesting characters, and a world where lives of communities became the core story rather than individual characters. That doesn't to take a way from any individual character, but rather make them even more interesting because the show have demonstrated that they can build continuation of parallel stories just based on any of the characters in the story.
One of the new spin offs in TWD is The Ones Who Live. It bring us back Rick and Michonne, and takes us to a journey they have been all while rest of the TWD world was happening in the main storyline. This completes one of most anticipated parts of the entire story and is definitely a welcome addition to the franchise. In addition to The Ones Who Live, TWD introduced two more spin offs - Dead City and Daryl Dixon. One of the horrific scenes in the entire series was how Negan cruelly killed Glenn, Maggies husband. That event played a significant role on how the characters of Negan and Maggie developed into the future. While Negan eventually became a part of the community and friendly character, the tense relationship between Negan and Maggie continued to be displayed. Both had interesting stories on their own, but putting them together in a spin off did produce a more interesting story.
Daryl Dixon also became a very unique character and this can be said about many other characters in the original TWD. He too gets his own spin off and title with characters name. This story takes us abroad to France. I like this development of the story as the world is completely different now everywhere, there is a lot to imagine and tell about the new world in other parts of the world. Both Dead City and Daryl Dixon are great concepts for the spin off, awesome story telling, great cinematography, and I am sure there is a lot that can be built on these stories alone and they can successfully grow separately.
The Ones Who Live is more special in my opinion. It is not necessarily a spin off like we would expect from spin offs when series end. It is more of a continuation of the original or filling in blanks for the story that viewers expected to see in the original but for some reason TWD wasn't able to deliver at the time. It was clear that this story were going to be told, but hadn't happened. I am glad they were able to bring actors back and bring sort of a closure to the story. The story hasn't ended yet. There are tree episodes available on AMC+ now. I am not sure how many more episodes there will be, or even how many seasons. I guess it would depend on how successful spin offs will be. While this story has just began, we already know from the ending of the original that Rick and Michonne weren't able to reunite with the community. I doubt we will see any reunions here. But still is interesting to see what they have been busy with all this time.
These three episodes weren't the greatest, but there weren't bad either. Acting was great, story is decent as well. But I expected something more though. So far I am not impressed by this new states kind of entity that doesn't really seem like it. It just seems like the same old kind of group of people who ended up with weapons and resources trying to play governments and countries games. It is a coalition but is a strange one. Maybe there will be more to enlighten us, but doesn't seem anything newer that what we have already seen in the original series. Have seen The Ones Who Live yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.