The Walking Dead: Dead City

Our Review

Maggie and Negan, the franchise’s most impossible pairing, end up together in a ruined, walker-infested Manhattan. The premise sounds like a cash grab and plays like one of the best things the franchise has done since its flagship renaissance: Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan sink their teeth into two people who will never forgive each other, forced into partnership anyway.

Post-apocalyptic New York is a genuinely stunning setting (walkers in theaters, bridges strung between rooftops), and the show uses the smaller canvas to go deeper on grief and ruthlessness than the flagship could afford. Season 2 aired in 2025 to strong notices, and more is coming.

The best entry point into the spinoff era by a distance.

Our take: 8/10. Proof the franchise still has great television in it.