credit: The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead has ended its run, as far as the main show is concerned. One would expect that it might take a while to reach a streaming network since it does take a while. But Netflix has made it clear that the final season will arrive around January 6th, which isn’t too far off.
It’s not a huge deal to think that this show will be arriving so quickly, but it’s fair to think that there are reasons for this. The fact that there are spinoffs coming might have something to do with the need to release the last season so quickly. During the course of this show, the spinoffs that resulted from it were easy to predict.
Not only is this idea a world-spanning tale, but there are also many different ways it could turn out in various regions of the world. Over the course of 11 seasons, this show has made it clear that not everyone calls the undead by the same name. People don’t even view the undead in the same manner, as some believe that they’re simply sick.
What this means is that TWD was designed to be incredibly diverse within its own setting. It has managed to create enough interest over the years to keep people coming back. If not for the possibility of a different angle in each spinoff, TWD might not have survived this long.
credit: The Walking Dead
There are reasons why a couple of spinoffs don’t work
It is possible that creating spinoffs can degrade the story in a very noticeable manner. There are too many writers, too many directors, and the story gets confusing. The attempt to keep everything straight hasn’t always worked, and the show has gone off the rails.
Unfortunately, the spinoffs weren’t given the best chance to succeed. Fear The Walking Dead was slow to get off the ground, and another spinoff was insanely confusing. The idea that people who had grown up in a world with the undead wouldn’t know what to do or expect is kind of hard to accept. Yet, this is what fans were given.
At the very least, the spinoffs should give solid explanations of the zombie apocalypse. Instead, they became mired in their own confusing plotlines.
The show has demanded a lot of the fans
Between creating new characters and not following certain storylines, TWD hasn’t been consistent. It’s fair to state that the graphic novels weren’t going to follow the same exact path. But it does stand to reason that following the comic would have asked less of the fans when it came to their understanding.
As the show managed to plod along following its last great season, many fans turned away in disdain. While the story did continue and did include several known plot points, many fans had had enough. Seasons 4 and 5 are considered the best seasons by many, and it’s not hard to guess why. There was more character development and a greater story to follow.
What came after started to fall apart one episode at a time, as many fans would state.
credit: The Walking Dead
How far this idea can go is questionable
Now that the main show is over, the spinoffs are going to take over and the story will continue in several different ways. How this will affect the franchise is uncertain, but over-saturation feels imminent. At one point, TWD will no doubt fade as a popular idea, and the spinoffs will end.
There are many fans that will argue this point and claim that it’s invalid, but the fact is that this idea has limited mobility at this time. To explain that the fact is that the living is still being outnumbered by the dead after so long is confusing. Plus, the fact is that after rotting away to nothing, the walkers are less of a threat.
The biological facts are already denied in the show since the longer a body continues to rot, the less likely it is to move as is needed to present a valid threat. This implies that the walkers in the show are somehow magical or unbound by their own physiology. That, in itself, is a long conversation/debate.
The Walking Dead should have ended sooner
From a physiological standpoint and from a storyteller’s perspective, this tale could and should have ended sooner. The degradation of the story came from many directions, but it could have ended far earlier and created an even bigger impact. Had it returned after a while, it would have likely excited the fans to think about what could happen. As it stands now, fans are still heavily divided concerning the show.
Hopefully, coming to Netflix this early will allow more people to find a reason to stay involved with this idea.
