Scott M. Gimple Is Planning More ‘Walking Dead’ Spinoffs, According To ‘The Hollywood Reporter’

Spoiler alert: This article contains information about Season 8 of AMC’s The Walking Dead as well as information from the comics that can be considered spoilers for television viewers. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid Walking Dead spoilers.

For those who are not yet okay with the death of Walking Dead regular Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), you can thank Scott M. Gimple for that creative decision. In the comic book series that the television show is based on, there is a pretty significant time jump around the time being aired on AMC’s version of The Walking Dead. During this time jump, something significant happened, and as a result, Carl’s father, Rick, didn’t kill Negan even though he had the opportunity. This was never completely explained in the comic books, and it is something Scott M. Gimple aims to rectify in the television series.

Enter Carl’s shocking death.

However, not only did Carl get bitten by a walker, he had also begun a transition over the course of Season 8 that saw him much more empathetic to the survivors of the zombie apocalypse. And it is his dying words that will likely be the catalyst needed for Rick to allow Negan to survive further on down the track in Season 8 of The Walking Dead.

While fans may argue whether killing Carl was a good idea or not, there is no denying Scott M. Gimple is one of the leading creative forces behind the television version of The Walking Dead. Now, the Hollywood Reporter has announced Gimple is planning to create more spinoff shows based on The Walking Dead.

Already, hungry Walking Dead fans have the spinoff series, Fear the Walking Dead. While this series is a standalone from the original, AMC has decided to crossover the two shows, with Morgan (Lennie James) making the trip from The Walking Dead to Fear in the next season. Along with this dedicated series, there have been some smaller miniseries, Flight 462 and Passages. In fact, there have even been some smaller videos that help further explain things in The Walking Dead universe. A prime example of this is the video that includes backstory to the words “Don’t open, dead inside,” which Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) first found written on some doors when he awoke from his coma in Season 1 of The Walking Dead. Finally, viewers can also tune into Talking Dead with Chris Hardwick after The Walking Dead and Fear airs each week to find out all the behind-the-scenes news and insights into each episode.

And this is all just television-related stuff. It doesn’t include the many merchandising ideas already on the market. Video games, action figures, and board games are just a few of the wildly successful merchandise items already available to fans.

So, where else does Scott M. Gimple plan to go in the Walking Dead universe?

In true Gimple style, he gives little away to the Hollywood Reporter.

“We’re going to be doing traditional stuff, non-traditional stuff, stuff people don’t expect. But yes, definitely scripted. The odds of unscripted are very remote. But, I’m not going to say no. We’re going to have cool new Walking Dead stuff.”

Gimple has been with The Walking Dead since Season 2, becoming showrunner in Season 4. Recently, he was elevated to chief content officer of The Walking Dead, meaning he will now likely have even more input in the Walking Dead universe. With the franchise being a multibillion-dollar industry for AMC, it comes as no surprise that Gimple wants to create even more spinoff series within the universe. The move to place Gimple in this position arose after the show’s original creator, Robert Kirkman, left the series to pursue a lucrative deal with Amazon.

Some of these spinoffs from The Walking Dead will potentially follow in the footsteps of Fear the Walking Dead and Flight 462. However, Gimple is eager to point out there are many other ways in which he would like to see The Walking Dead expand.

“We’re experimenting with new ways to do it. We’re seeing different lengths of seasons and different formats — though I’m not talking about a 37-minute series. I’m talking about different ways to tell stories, possibly with characters we know and possibly with characters we don’t [know].”

Gimple also suggested that he would like to see The Walking Dead follow less traditional formats to what viewers already see. However, he was not very clear on what these formats were, so fans will just have to wait to see what Scott comes up with in the future.

Season 8 of The Walking Dead returns to AMC with Episode 10 (titled “The Lost And the Plunderers“) Sunday, March 4 at 9 p.m. EST.