The Walking Dead: Dead City

The Walking Dead: Dead City is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Eli Jorné for AMC, based on The Walking Dead characters Maggie and Negan. It is the first sequel to The Walking Dead television series, and the fifth series in The Walking Dead franchise, sharing continuity with the other television series. Jorné serves as showrunner.

Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprise their roles as Maggie and Negan from the original television series, with Gaius Charles, Željko Ivanek, and Mahina Napoleon also starring. Development of the series began in March 2022, with its title revealed that month and renamed in August. Additional castings were announced in October and November 2022. Principal photography began in July 2022 in New Jersey and concluded in October 2022.

The first season of the series premiered on June 18, 2023, and consisted of six episodes. In July 2023, it was renewed for a second season, which is set to premiere in 2025.

Premise
The series follows Maggie and Negan traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan cut off from the mainland in search of Maggie's kidnapped son, Hershel. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror.

Main

 * Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene: Glenn's widow, formerly a part of Rick Grimes' group on The Walking Dead. She is also the leader of the Hilltop Colony, a community of survivors that relocated from Virginia to New York.
 * Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan: The reformed former leader of the Saviors who left the Commonwealth with his pregnant wife to build a life together at the end of The Walking Dead.
 * Gaius Charles as Perlie Armstrong: A marshal for the New Babylon Federation, a network of survivor communities in New York, who is tasked with hunting down Negan.
 * Željko Ivanek as "The Croat": Originally from Croatia, hence his name, the Croat is a sadistic former member of the Saviors who has kidnapped Maggie's son, Hershel. He is also the leader of the Burazi, a group of hostile survivors who have taken control of Manhattan.
 * Mahina Napoleon as Ginny: A young girl under Negan's care who is selectively mute following the traumatic death of her father. It's later revealed that her father is one of the men that Negan is wanted for killing.

Recurring

 * Logan Kim as Hershel Rhee: Maggie and Glenn's teenage son. Kim replaces actor Kien Michael Spiller who previously played Hershel on The Walking Dead.
 * Jonathan Higginbotham as Tommaso (season 1): The co-leader of the Tribespeople, a nomadic group of survivors based in Manhattan who are being hunted by the Burazi.
 * Karina Ortiz as Amaia (season 1): The co-leader of the Tribespeople and Tommaso's girlfriend.
 * Lisa Emery as "The Dama": The Croat's close ally.

Guest

 * Michelle Hurd as Jones (season 1): The owner of the Easy Stay Motor Inn, who hides Negan from the New Babylon marshals.
 * Trey Santiago-Hudson as Jano (season 1): A deputy marshal for New Babylon who assists Perlie in hunting down Negan.
 * Michael Anthony as Luther (season 1): A physically imposing member of the Tribespeople who is distrustful of Maggie and Negan.
 * Steven Ogg as Simon (season 1): The former second-in-command of the Saviors who appears in a flashback scene. Ogg reprises his role from The Walking Dead.
 * Jasmin Walker as "The Prefect": The leader of the New Babylon Federation and Perlie's superior.

Development
In March 2022, AMC reported that they were developing a fourth spin-off of The Walking Dead titled Isle of the Dead revolving around Maggie and Negan with Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprising their respective roles from the original series and Eli Jorné, a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead, attached as showrunner alongside Cohan and Morgan as executive producers. In late August, the series title was renamed to The Walking Dead: Dead City. In July 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.

Casting
In April 2022, Gaius Charles was cast as Perlie Armstrong. In July, Željko Ivanek, Jonathan Higginbotham, and Mahina Napoleon were cast as "The Croat", Tommaso, and Ginny respectively.

In April 2024, Kim Coates was announced to have joined the cast as a series regular for the second season.

Filming
Principal photography began on July 19 in New Jersey and wrapped on October 24, 2022. Locations include the Meadowlands Arena, Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve, Port Newark, National Newark Building, Newark Symphony Hall, Hoboken Terminal, Liberty State Park and Shades of Death Road.

Filming on the second season began by April 8, 2024 in Taunton, Massachusetts. Michael E. Satrazemis, who previously directed episodes of The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live would be directing, with Adam Suschitzky serving as cinematographer.

Marketing
In November 2022, an early look on the behind the scenes of the series was released by AMC.

Release
The Walking Dead: Dead City premiered on AMC on June 18, 2023. The series premiered early on AMC+ on June 15, with subsequent episodes available three days before their broadcast premieres. The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 12, 2023. The second season is set to premiere in 2025.

Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 80% approval rating with an average rating of 7.2/10, based on 54 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Dead City still creaks under the constraints of being an umpteenth spinoff, it ultimately shakes off the franchise's rigor mortis thanks to a change of scenery and a focus on two fan favorites." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".