{"id":115981,"date":"2020-10-02T16:42:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T15:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=115981"},"modified":"2020-10-05T16:35:18","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T15:35:18","slug":"the-walking-dead-world-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/interviews\/the-walking-dead-world-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead: World Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember when The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> was just that black and white zombie comic? Well, now it\u2019s a franchise, spawning comics, three TV shows and a film in the works. The third TV show to join the shuffling ranks of the walking dead is The Walking Dead: World Beyond<\/strong><\/em>. Where the flagship show has followed its shifting group of heroes from the moment Rick Grimes woke up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and Fear The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em><\/a> took us back to the earliest days of the outbreak, World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> takes place a decade after civilisation collapsed, and focuses on a group of teens who can barely remember the world as it was before.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a toothless teen take on The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em>, though. World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> still boasts face-chomping walkers \u2013 or \u2018empties\u2019, as the characters on this show call them \u2013 and will no doubt have a similarly blas\u00e9 attitude towards major character deaths. But when we first meet the characters of this show, they have spent years being sheltered from the brutal realities of the Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> universe. Showrunner Matthew Negrete, who has been a writer on The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> since Season Four, tells us that World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> takes place initially in a community which is \u201cunlike anything we\u2019ve ever seen on The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> because it feels very first world… They have running water, they have walls to protect them, and they have a lot of the conveniences that we all have today, only they\u2019re ten years into the apocalypse. They\u2019ve been very privileged in a lot of ways, and they\u2019ve been very sheltered.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The walkers are called ’empties’ in The Walking Dead: World Beyond<\/strong><\/em>…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Scott Gimple, Chief Content Officer for The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> universe, first approached Negrete about a spin-off, they knew they needed something \u201cfresh and new and different from the other two shows\u201d, Negrete says. Part of that was about creating a world that wasn\u2019t just about survival. The characters in World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> have grown up in a place where the inhabitants have been researching the contagion that caused the outbreak and examining the environment they now live in. These kids have grown up relatively safe, but well aware of the dangers of the outside world. \u201cThey\u2019ve taken courses in how to kill the undead, but they\u2019ve never actually done it,\u201d Negrete explains. In most Walking Dead<\/strong> <\/em>shows, the characters find themselves plunged into a monstrous nightmare with no warning, but in World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> the characters intentionally \u201cmake a decision to go out into the world and to put themselves in danger\u201d, Negrete says, \u201cto save someone who is very important to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other obvious element that sets World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> apart from the other Walking Dead<\/strong> <\/em>shows is the ages of its protagonists. Negrete tells us that he\u2019s always loved coming-of-age stories, citing Stand By Me<\/strong><\/em> as a favourite because \u201cthese kids start out as one thing and by the end of their trip they\u2019ve all been changed. The idea of these characters learning about themselves through this grand adventure, I just jumped at it, I loved that idea.\u201d Once he and Gimple started talking through plans for a new series, they knew quickly that a younger set of characters was the right direction to take. \u201cWhen we started talking about the kind of things we could explore with a younger cast and a younger set of characters, all of a sudden the ideas were just rolling and rolling, almost like we couldn\u2019t stop. In a matter of just a few weeks we\u2019d come pretty close to mapping out the entire season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> focuses on a group of teens who can barely remember the world as it was before.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of the younger cast, Negrete thinks that the show could attract a younger audience than the other TWD<\/strong><\/em> shows. \u201cThere are a lot of things going on in society today, for example, where young people have a voice\u2026 and they\u2019re not afraid to express it, and that\u2019s kind of the thing that makes this show relevant. I think that\u2019s why it will track with a younger audience.\u201d The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> has always attracted a broader audience than you would expect from a zombie horror show, and Negrete believes that World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> will be no different, especially as coming-of-age stories are about as universal as you can get. \u201cEveryone remembers coming of age, and the kind of emotions that you felt when you had your first kiss or your first crush, or you find your voice for the first time. Everyone can relate to that feeling of trying to figure out who you are, who you want to be.\u201d He also adds that, while Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em> fans will enjoy exploring a new corner of the universe, a knowledge of the franchise is not necessary to enjoy World Beyond<\/strong><\/em>, and so he hopes it can work as a jumping-on point for new viewers.<\/p>\n

World Beyond<\/strong><\/em> centres on two sisters, Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour). Negrete tells us that Iris is \u201ctrying to figure out what she wants from life, even after the apocalypse\u2026 There\u2019s this need to try to build the world back up and make it better and you find yourself living for other people, but that then begs the question of what do you want personally? How do you live life for yourself? And that\u2019s a question that Iris will ask herself.\u201d Hope, on the other hand, is \u201ca bit of a troublemaker, she likes to get her drink on\u201d, Negrete chuckles. \u201cI think that she and her sister in a lot of ways couldn\u2019t be more opposite, but at the same time they love and respect each other, and it\u2019s that bond between them that\u2019s going to carry them through when they choose to leave the safety of the place they are from.\u201d He hints, though, that there are unspoken secrets between Hope and Iris that could \u201cchange the dynamics\u201d of their entire relationship.<\/p>\n

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The show centres on two sisters, Hope (left: Alexa Mansour) and Iris (right: Aliyah Royale).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joining them on their quest into the world beyond their community walls are Elton (Nicolas Cantu) and Silas (Hal Cumpston). Elton, the youngest of the group, \u201chasn\u2019t seen the world, really, since he was five years old, except through a telescope\u2026 He thinks, \u2018okay, we may die out some time soon, I\u2019m going to see the world before that happens\u2019.\u201d Silas is the most mysterious member of the group. \u201cHe\u2019s this hulking guy who, because of his large frame, and because he\u2019s a loner, a lot of kids are scared of him. For that reason he retreats into his own shell, and people haven\u2019t really reached out to him.\u201d Negrete adds that \u201crumours are swirling around him about things that he might or might not have done in his past,\u201d which will become a \u201ccritical\u201d element of the first season.<\/p>\n

That first season will actually be half of the entire show, as it\u2019s only set to run for two seasons of ten episodes, making it a finite series. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t ever designed to be a show that goes on and on,\u201d Negrete explains. \u201cWe started talking about it and we were exploring it as it if had an ending\u2026 and we followed our goal and stuck close to that ending.\u201d Rather than that being a hindrance, Negrete found it freeing. \u201cThe fact that this is two seasons and done allows us to have this arc, and to know where we started the characters, but more importantly know where they\u2019re going to end up.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something thrilling about a show that already has its own end in sight, not least because it means they have little reason to keep their characters alive for long. Which, in the world of The Walking Dead<\/strong><\/em>, bodes very badly for the poor zombie-fodder characters\u2026<\/p>\n

The Walking Dead: World Beyond is available now on Prime Video<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world of The Walking Dead is getting bigger with new show The Walking Dead: World Beyond. We talk to showrunner Matthew Negrete about what to expect…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":115985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[7,207],"tags":[6737],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/TWDBY-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}