We Can See The Walking Dead Cinematic Universe Starting To Take Shape Now – Forbes

The Walking Dead

It seemed a bit baffling that in the face of falling ratings and departing cast members that AMC was tripling down on The Walking Dead. More spin-offs! Movies! A Walking Dead Cinematic Universe!

Wait, what was that last one?

AMC has started to form a grand plan for The Walking Dead as not just a pair of shows, but as an entire, connected universe well past one cast member hopping from one program to another. And from new clues we can see how that is starting to take shape in various ways.

For this to come into focus, we have to look past the pending end of the Whisperer War, which will probably not last much past the second half of season 10. Because after that, it feels like things are going to start to get wild. Spoilers follow.

Here are the pieces of the puzzle we have in place.

1. We know that the three circle symbol is something that represents three different communities. One of these communities that has this symbol is one that worked with Jadis, took Rick and that showed up briefly on Fear the Walking Dead. Theyre heavily militaristic to the point where they apparently send death squads after you if youve even heard of them, and theyre all about saving the future, whatever that means. They are reportedly located in Philadelphia, as promos for the movies indicated. It seems likely Michonne may end up joining this storyline after she leaves the main show.

The Walking Dead

2. We see the three circle symbol again in the preview materials for the upcoming, as-of-yet unnamed Walking Dead third spin-off that will debut in 2020. In this image, we can see the name of three communities, presumably the three members of the circles, the Civic Republic, Portland and Omaha. Given that we know the third spin-off takes place in Omaha, we now have two of the communities accounted for between Ricks movies and this show.

3. We have confirmed that we are heading down the comic route to have the main show arrive at the Commonwealth, a huge community that is run on a class-based system. There are one of two options here. Either the Commonwealth exists outside of the three communities, and could end up being a possible rival to them, or the Commonwealth is the third community, the Portland community (presumably the Civic Republic is the helicopter people). In the comics, the Commonwealth is located somewhere in Ohio. Portland obviously makes us think of Oregon, but there is also a much (much) smaller township in Ohio called Portland. Its right on the border of Ohio and West Viriginia, close enough where it would make for a good location that the main TWD crew in Virginia could be about to find. And a network of communities that are Omaha, Portland (Ohio) and Philadelphia are at least somewhat closer together than Omaha, Portland (Oregon) and Philadelphia would be.

The new Walking Dead show

4. There are some X-factors floating around here. We do not know what group Georgie is affiliated with yet, and it could be any one of these, or none of them. Similarly, Fear the Walking Dead has now run into a new villain in Texas trying to set up communities in that area, and given that they are still many years in the past, it seems like thats something that could grow into one of the communities down the line. Possibly even the Omaha one, given the location. Or again, it could be nothing.

The point is we are moving into a much, much larger story that will span all three shows and at least one series of spin-off movies. This is going to go well, well beyond what the series has done for crossovers with Fear to date, and its going to start moving quickly, once the third show arrives and the Commonwealth storyline begins in the main show, probably in season 11.

The comics end with the Commonwealth storyline, which serves as the final resting place of Rick Grimes, and this whole three circle community idea is nowhere to be found. But The Walking Dead wants to live forever, and it seems it also wants to be The Avengers to a certain extent with large plans for the universe and endless opportunities for crossovers. Damn the ratings, damn the skepticism, theyre doing it. And I am curious to see where this all goes.

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We Can See The Walking Dead Cinematic Universe Starting To Take Shape Now - Forbes