Tales of the Walking Dead anthology series to debut next summer

If there is one thing we know about zombies, it's that they are relentless. Even with The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond both in the midst of their final seasons, AMC announced Tuesday that its Tales of the Walking Dead episodic anthology series announced last year as being in development has been officially greenlit and will debut on the network (and AMC+) next summer.

Channing Powell, who has been a writer and producer on The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, will act as showrunner on the spin-off while working with Walking Dead universe chief content officer Scott M. Gimple on the series.

The first season of Tales will be comprised of six stand-alone episodes that will be "focused on both new and established characters set in the world of the original series," according to the network. Previously, AMC had described the series as "an episodic anthology with individual episodes or arcs of episodes focused on new or existing characters, backstories or other stand-alone experiences."

Josh Stringer/AMC Sleeping walkers on 'The Walking Dead' season 11 premiere

The format offers Powell and Gimple the intriguing opportunity to bring characters who perished in The Walking Dead universe back to life and be seen at some point in the past before they met an untimely demise, and perhaps even before we met them on the show. It also means other stories that were only briefly touched on — such as, for example, the note from children written to their missing dad on a dollar bill that Daryl Dixon recently found in the underground D.C. metro station — could be expanded into full episode backstories.

"This series, more than any other in the Walking Dead universe, runs on new voices, perspectives, and ideas — bringing to life stories unlike any we've told before," Gimple said in a statement. "I'm thrilled to be Channing's consigliere, helping in every way I can to make those new visions real for the best fans in TV."

Tales showrunner Powell notes in the AMC release that "I started as a fan of The Walking Dead and have ended up as a showrunner of what will hopefully be one of its most unique spin-offs. That's nuts and I'm so grateful to AMC and Scott for supporting me and my writers while we pushed, pulled, and poked at the boundaries of this universe to bring you something new and unexpected, while hopefully still tending to what core audiences loved so much about the flagship show."

Tales is not the only new Walking Dead series on tap for fans in the future. Another spin-off featuring Daryl and Carol (to be captained by current TWD showrunner Angela Kang) is in the works after season 11 of the flagship series wraps up next year. So, the zombies aren't going anywhere anytime soon, folks.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• The Walking Dead showrunner on that fiery cliffhanger

• The Walking Dead just introduced a total Jerky McJerkface

• The Walking Dead showrunner on creating the horror house from hell

• The Walking Dead's Commonwealth set is built where the Sanctuary and the prison used to be

• The Walking Dead showrunner reveals how Leah's story line was originally supposed to begin