AMC has had quite a lot to share during the Television Critics Association Winter Tour that is currently in progress. On top of speaking about upcoming comic book drama series, Preacher, and showing off a new trailer for the soon-debuting second season of Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, the premium network also naturally had quite a lot to say about The Walking Dead, along with its spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead.
Fear the Walking Dead will also be returning to the airwaves a bit earlier than anticipated to boot. The series will return on Sunday, April 10th, in its usual 9:00-10:00 P.M. timeslot. AMC will however be splitting the extended second season for the spin-off into two parts, a strategy that they employed with the final seasons of some of their legacy hits, such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men. While the first seven episodes of Season Two’s fifteen-episode order will air from April 10th throughout the Spring season, the remaining eight episodes are instead being reserved for later in 2016, presumably to lead into the October premiere of the main The Walking Dead series, which was renewed for a seventh season back in 2015.
The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead were both ratings sensations last year, despite Fear the Walking Dead’s six-episode first season receiving mixed feedback from critics and fans alike. The current sixth season of The Walking Dead will return for its latter eight episodes on Sunday, February 14th, and the season will wrap shortly before Fear the Walking Dead debuts the first half of its second season in April. The front half of Season Six for The Walking Dead has generally received mixed feedback from viewers itself, despite continued landmark ratings, with the beginning of the season being widely praised, though its latter episodes, and particularly the midseason finale, were criticized by many fans and critics for being uneventful and dull. Our weekly review coverage of The Walking Dead has fallen in line with that consensus for this season as well.
Despite that, AMC remains as committed to both zombie drama shows as ever, and said at this year’s Winter TCA tour that the network doesn’t foresee an end to The Walking Dead at this point, particularly as the source graphic novels continue to do well in the comic book scene. The network is also toying with the idea of doing more spin-offs for The Walking Dead as well, though for now, Fear the Walking Dead is the only one that the network is actively developing.
Keep shambling to Eggplante for all news and updates on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and Fear the Walking Dead.