Fear the Walking Dead to end with season 8 while Dead City premiere is moved

The upcoming season of Fear the Walking Dead will be its last, AMC announced at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

The eighth season of the first Walking Dead spin-off will be split into two six-episode blocks, with the first block premiering May 14th at 9 p.m. ET, and the second batch of episodes coming later in 2023. The move comes just a few months after the original mothership series aired its series finale on Nov. 20, 2022.

Lauren "Lo" Smith/AMC Kim Dickens and Lennie James on 'Fear the Walking Dead'

Fear the Walking Dead has experienced a lot of changes since the series first debuted on Aug. 23, 2015. Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss replaced original showrunner Dave Erickson after season 3 (with Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple overseeing all the shows).

In addition to the changes behind the scenes, original cast members Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane, Mercedes Mason, and Alycia Debnam-Carey all left the series over the first 7 seasons, while Lennie James and Austin Amelio moved over from the original TWD. However, Dickens returned to Fear in the season 7 finale and her Madison Clark character will now be part of the final season.

While 2023 will mark the end of one spin-off, it will also see the beginning of several others. AMC announced that Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's The Walking Dead: Dead City will move back from its original April premiere date to June, with the Norman Reedus-led The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon coming later in 2023. (They also announced a still-untitled Rick and Michonne spin-off starring Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira that will be lurching onto AMC screens in 2024.)

AMC Lauren Cohan (center) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan on 'Walking Dead: Dead City'

Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios at AMC Networks, had this to say in an AMC press release: "It's a truly exciting year for The Walking Dead Universe, as we conclude an epic journey on Fear the Walking Dead, which became one of the most successful shows in the history of cable television. And now we are set to bring forth the next iteration of the franchise — two new and anticipated series featuring the beloved characters of Maggie, Negan and Daryl. Along with that we begin production on the next chapter in Rick and Michonne's unforgettable love story, which we look forward to sharing next year. This next phase of our beloved Walking Dead franchise promises to engage and enthrall faithful viewers. Fans new and old will love seeing zombies walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, beneath the Eiffel Tower, inside the Louvre, and at dozens more exotic and iconic locations from around the country and world."

Emmanuel Guimier/AMC Norman Reedus on 'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon'

Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer of The Walking Dead Universe added his own statement. "The Walking Dead Universe LIVES! To conclude Fear the Walking Dead, we're thrilled to be bringing you one of its most vibrant, inventive, exciting seasons EVER, while breaking new ground with old favorites: Maggie and Negan in the madhouse of post-apocalyptic Manhattan with no one to depend on but each other…Daryl Dixon in France, a loner who cannot move through this new dangerous world alone, facing vicious enemies and never-seen-before threats of the undead.  And Rick and Michonne, in a romantic saga of the dangerous road to each other, and the road they must find with each other, cornered by a new civilization and hordes of the dead. Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, showrunner Eli Jorné, Norman Reedus, showrunner David Zabel, Danai Gurira, and Andrew Lincoln are creating heart-wrenching, heart-pounding magic for the next phase of the TWDU!"

And it seems with both the original Walking Dead and now Fear signing off, the first phase is complete.

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