Updates: ‘The Walking Dead’ Spin-Off

We’ve mostly been left in the dark about details for the upcoming Walking Dead Spin-off series that’s currently in development. But in a recent interview with vulture.com some of AMC’s executives revealed a bit of information.

So what’s the status of Better Call Saul and the spinoff of The Walking Dead?
Stillerman: Both are in the very, very early stages. Saul is actually a little farther along. That show is committed and on the books now. The writers’ room is open. Broad strokes — probably no news here: It is a prequel, it explores what went into shaping the incredibly compelling and idiosyncratic and funny and somewhat tragic character of Saul Goodman. I think the other thing that’s really great about Saul: Vince and Peter Gould, who are partners on the show, talk a lot about really reinventing the tone of what it means to be a drama. There have been a number of dramas on the air that have had comedic elements. But I think they really want to push the envelope in terms of what it means to take you on an emotional roller coaster ride, and make you laugh, and break your heart and stretch the boundaries of where you can go emotionally within the context of a drama. Saul’s obviously a very funny character, and there’s going to be a lot of comedy in that show. But they felt at the end of the day that it was best crafted as a drama, and that would give them the latitude storytelling-wise and character-wise to really go into a sort of unprecedented range of emotions.
Collier: They’re not just [creating] a spinoff. I hate the connotation, because they are really trying to create something original out of a great character. It’s so much more than a spinoff. When you hear them talk about it, they really are going back to the drawing board taking the time to invent something.

 

And The Walking Dead follow-up?
Stillerman: That show is not as far along. Robert has some things on his plate. He continues to write every issue of the comic and hasn’t finished season four of The Walking Dead, which he is very intimately involved with and will continue to be. That’s really in the incubation stages. The one thing that I’ll share is just an anecdote that Robert shared with us. He has such a specific vision that he laid out really clearly in the first issue of the comic book. And I encourage anybody who’s interested in the show to go read the note that he wrote in the first issue of the comic. His motivation for telling that story was so clear and so powerful, and it served as such a great north star for the show. We kicked around a few ideas, but primarily what he’s working on is, what is the idea that gives [him] as clear a mandate to make another version of this show as [he] had for the first one? What is going on [now] is a more philosophical discussion over why there should be another version of the show. Once we answer that, we’ll zero in on the specific creative.