Maggie and Negan enter a post-apocalyptic Manhattan that has been cut off from the mainland for a very long time. The dead and those who have made New York City their own world fill the city.
In reality, being "The Walking Dead" in a world following "The Last of Us" must be challenging. AMC's flagship franchise is nearly half a decade removed from its best days, whereas HBO's newest hit show feels fresh, an invigorating zombified character drama filled with possibilities. Even though the show has had a few spinoffs (such as Fear the Walking Dead, which only lasted two seasons while the original show lasted eight), the original show only left the airwaves eleven seasons and 12 years later.
The universe, like so many other walkers before it, simply refuses to die. Following the conclusion of the main series, numerous smaller spinoffs have emerged in an effort to provide some of the show's most beloved characters with additional flesh—as well as the attention of the audience. The first of these, "Dead City," serves as a test to see how these different stories will fare. Additionally, the outlook for the future is somewhat gloomy.
Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a former big bad turned semi-repentant hero whose introduction saw him bashing in the head of Maggie's husband Glenn with his signature barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille, is reunited with Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who was last seen becoming the leader of Hilltop. She is not present in "Dead City," and no explanation is given for her absence.) Now, on a highly risky mission, the two of them become reluctant partners: break into zombie-infested Manhattan, which was cut off from the rest of the world at the beginning of the outbreak in an unsuccessful effort to halt the virus's spread.
Maggie tells Negan that a new group of bad guys attacked Hilltop, taking all of their grain and, most importantly, Herschel, Maggie's son played by Logan Kim. She also has a sneaking suspicion that their leader, "The Croat," also known as Eljko Ivanek, has a relationship with Negan in the past. They then set out for Manhattan to confront the Croat and retrieve Maggie's child.
The next episode is sort of "The Walking Dead," but it also has "Escape from New York" slathered all over it like so much flesh. Negan and Maggie play the split Snake Plissken as they wander the empty streets of New York City in Ian Hultquist's synth-droning score, which is reminiscent of John Carpenter's trademark electronic pulses. They encounter gangs dressed in leather coats and armed with improvised weapons, both hostile (The Croat's thugs) and friendly (a group of native New Yorkers who still hold out hope that they can take back the island). The previous "Walking Dead" shows were ensemble dramas that frequently interwoven the stories of dozens of main characters; This six-episode season's narrative is more focused, and it's better for it.
But that doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows; The minor tweaks made in "Dead City" aren't quite enough to save you if you were getting sick of the "Walking Dead" formula. Eli Jorné, who co-created with Scott M. Gimple, the showrunner for "Walking Dead," continues to rely on the tried-and-true TWD patterns: hazy flashbacks, flashes of gooey KNB EFX Group zombie violence, and one weeping monologue after another are interspersed. Even though Negan's witticisms have developed to the point where they resemble dad jokes, Maggie and Negan remain as formidable as ever on the show. Additionally, the secondary protagonists fall far short of expectations: Gaius Charles plays a small-town marshal whose Javert-like journey to bring Negan to justice is of little use, and Mahina Napoleon plays a mute teenager named Ginny, who is supposed to be Negan's emotional anchor but instead wastes our time with pointless subplots.
At the very least, there are some fun new ways to kill zombies and zombies: The Croats' men use ziplines, fortified football helmets, and grappling-hook nail guns to catch their prey. In the New York sewers, corpses are rotting to the point where you can see rat-king walkers with multiple heads and limbs fused together, and there are walls of congealed zombie fat. Naturally, there's also the zombie pit arena, where the villain's sneering, one-dimensional prey is sent to kill or be killed. "Dead City" at least delivers on that front if you're looking for squishy zombie-killing chaos.
Since a second is almost certainly on the way, its most intriguing concepts only gain traction in the season's final episodes. The most effective use of the show is as a battlefield in which Maggie and Negan work through their conflicted feelings for one another: The monster that has made a turn for the better, and the one who has to decide whether or not to ever forgive him for the horrible things he has done. It's a shame that they have to make room for one uninteresting side character after another and a climax that shakes up what you thought you knew in order to set up a twisty scene for the second season.
Late in the season, one character mutters, "Everyone knows the ending is all that matters." Considering that "The Walking Dead" is a franchise that simply refuses to die, that statement is especially offensive. Its component parts break off into one spinoff after another even when the shambling corpse of its original self finally stops moving. At least two more "Walking Dead" spinoffs are on the way, and "Dead City" is set to eat more of New York City. When will these characters and this ensemble be able to rest in peace?
The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023) - info
- Release date: June 18, 2023
- Genre: Horror, Thriller
- Director: Eli Jorné
- Writer:
- Stars: Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zeljko Ivanek
The Walking Dead: Dead City is scheduled for June 18, 2023, on AMC. On June 15, the show had an early premiere on AMC+, and subsequent episodes were available three days before they were broadcast.