The Walking Dead: Dead City

The Walking Dead: Dead City is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Eli Jorné for AMC, based on The Walking Dead characters Maggie and Negan. It is the first sequel to The Walking Dead television series, and the fifth series in The Walking Dead franchise, sharing continuity with the other television series. Jorné serves as showrunner.
Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprise their roles as Maggie and Negan from the original television series, with Gaius Charles, Željko Ivanek, and Mahina Napoleon also starring. Development of the series began in March 2022, with its title revealed that month and renamed in August. Additional castings were announced in October and November 2022. Principal photography began in July 2022 in New Jersey and concluded in October 2022.
The first season premiered on June 18, 2023, and consists of six episodes. In July 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, which is set to premiere on May 4, 2025.
The series follows Maggie and Negan traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan cut off from the mainland in search of Maggie's kidnapped son, Hershel. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror.
In March 2022, AMC reported that they were developing a fourth spin-off of The Walking Dead titled Isle of the Dead revolving around Maggie and Negan with Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprising their respective roles from the original series and Eli Jorné, a writer and co-executive producer on The Walking Dead, attached as showrunner alongside Cohan and Morgan as executive producers. In late August, the series title was renamed to The Walking Dead: Dead City. In July 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.
In April 2022, Gaius Charles was cast as Perlie Armstrong. In July, Željko Ivanek, Jonathan Higginbotham, and Mahina Napoleon were cast as "The Croat", Tommaso, and Ginny respectively.
In April 2024, Kim Coates was announced to have joined the cast as a series regular for the second season. In July, Keir Gilchrist, Dascha Polanco, Jake Weary, and Pooya Mohseni were announced to have joined the cast. In February 2025, the main cast for the second season was confirmed.
Principal photography began on July 19 in New Jersey and wrapped on October 24, 2022. Locations include the Meadowlands Arena, Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve, Port Newark, National Newark Building, Newark Symphony Hall, Hoboken Terminal, Liberty State Park and Shades of Death Road.
Filming on the second season began by April 8, 2024 in Taunton, Massachusetts. Michael E. Satrazemis, who previously directed episodes of The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live would be directing, with Adam Suschitzky serving as cinematographer. Filming had wrapped by July 15, 2024, in Massachusetts. Co-star and executive producer Lauren Cohan directed episodes 4 and 6.
In November 2022, an early look on the behind the scenes of the series was released by AMC.
The Walking Dead: Dead City premiered on AMC on June 18, 2023. The series premiered early on AMC+ on June 15, with subsequent episodes available three days before their broadcast premieres. The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 12, 2023.
The second season is set to premiere on May 4, 2025.
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 79% approval rating with an average rating of 7.15/10, based on 56 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Dead City still creaks under the constraints of being an umpteenth spinoff, it ultimately shakes off the franchise's rigor mortis thanks to a change of scenery and a focus on two fan favorites." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 58 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".