Yeah here is the video of their appearance at comic con



This six episode series is taking the place of the movies so the movies are officially off (of course we all pretty much suspected that at this point).

Doesn't look like the last eight episodes of season 11 will have Rick in it at all so if all you are still watching the show for is to hopefully see Rick again then you can pretty much skip the last eight episodes.

I think for most of us we can just watch these six episodes and then be done with this franchise that has been run into the ground.

 

I was really hoping they would be back for the last 8 to conclude the story. But I’ll take a spin-off instead of the movies. The movies would never make it in theaters, IMO. As much as I think they should just end the story and not do these spin-offs, I’m excited that they’re filming Isle of the Dead by me in NJ. I’m totally going to try and at least get a glimpse of JDM this summer.

 

There will always be a fan base for horror/zombie/ and post apocalyptic fiction. It's more about how AMC handled the franchise then in any deteriorating interest in the genre. As I have said before you really can't handle a franchise the way AMC tried to handle TWD unless you are dealing with a fanbase that has been fans since they were six years old.

 

I have mixed feelings on this. On the negative side I'm angered at how Gimple completely trashed this franchise and never ended the main show. There was no plan whatsoever. Instead we have endless spinoffs. Gimple should've never been on that stage.

On the positive side I can now skip the final 8 episodes of the Commonwealth trash. I've been fast forwarding through much of it anyway lately. The story is painfully bad and the new characters are on a soap opera level. We know everyone that matters survives, so who cares.

I'm very skeptical though with Gimple as the showrunner of the Rick/Michonne series but I'll see that one through.

 

Movies (theatre or straight-to-DVD) or 6-part TV series, I will still watch, for the sake of knowing the complete story of Rick/Michonne.

I will watch the final 8 episodes too. Frankly, not very excited about the Commonwealth but I still care about characters like Carol, Judith, Maggie, Lydia, Daryl, Rosita and Negan (not in any particular order).

 

I feel the same way. As much as I hate the Commonwealth I’ll sit through the last 8 episodes for the sake of the afore mentioned characters. One bright spot is I’m also hoping to see the downfall of Lance, Pamela and her rotten son. Then on to Rick and Michonne! They have to reunite them with their kids at the end, right? I’m a sucker for a happy ending.

 

Thank god they dropped the movies and went for the mini spin-off instead that is second best solution to giving us the Michonne/Rick story if it couldn’t be part of the mother show. Which is really what they should have done, bookend the main story with Rick’s return and core family reunited. Oh well.

Looking forward to the final 8 episodes, and I think I’m up for all the three spin-offs. Michonne/Rick - can’t wait, Daryl - well of course, and hoping Connie might go with him, and Negan/Maggie - much intrigued by what their mission will be.

I’m glad it’s not goodbye-goodbye yet… I love these characters.

 

I can understand why most will see it through. I was going to as well until the announcement of the Rick and Michonne series. I was further along though in my displeasure with the show. I was fast forwarding through a lot of the final 8, so it was kind pointless for me at this stage. It's just aggravating me, so I won't hate watch when I can read about what happened. I'm already concerned that Gimple is directly involved in the Rick/Michonne spinoff but I'll see that one through until the end.

 

Surely even Gimple cannot mess up a short spin-off with the two most beloved characters of the show finding one another. The whole premise of the spin-off is enough to carry it, not to mention two stellar actors! So fingers crossed that will leave you and us all satisfied. I’d love it if you had a good closure with TWD, having stuck with it into its final season. You deserve that much. I’m so sorry they’ve messed up the tail end of it for you. I’m still intrigued where this is all going.

 

Andrew and Danai have both been very good in the past, even when they haven't been dealt the best material. So, we do have that going for us.

Although I wasn't a fan of the Commonwealth in the comics, it's much worse on the TV side. Still, I think one of the biggest problems for the show is that they strayed too far from the source material. I think the main problems were:

• The overly brutal Negan scene with the introduction of the Saviors. In the comics they just killed Glenn. But here were not only had that, but Abe too. Negan also terrorized Rick and then was taunting him to cut off Carl's hand. That was then topped off by him kidnapping Daryl. Just way too much.
• Killing Carl, who survived until the end in the comics was like killing the show. It also made it easier for Andrew Lincoln to leave.
• Bottle episodes that took us out of the overall story and made the show feel disjointed and not immersive.

My approach to shows too is that I try not to nitpick them early on. I give the creators breaks on certain things as I wait to see how they tie it all together. But when it falls apart it's time to bring out the knives.

I think it's important to know your endpoint in a series too. If you don't have a destination then it will usually go off the rails. The House of the Dragon, which is premiering next month on HBO has a defined story and they know it'll take them three or four seasons to tell it. It feels like with TWD they just decided they needed to find an ending after Andrew Lincoln left.

 

I agree on all your three bullet points, with the caveat that some of my all time favourite episodes are in fact bottle episodes. I do agree though that sometimes they broke the flow when we wanted to see how everyone was getting on.

Straying from the source material has given us Daryl Dixon so I’m not gonna complain there.

I completely agree on the necessity of an overall vision and where the story is heading for a successful show. Of course this was somewhat tricky with the comic still being written after the tv show was already started. I remember the ongoing joke of Kirkman writing things into the comic just to give extra headache to the tv show producers.

The other issue was overstretching the show beyond its natural arc. It’s become an ongoing saga, and had to deal with inevitable actor departures and absences for filming elsewhere and then ironically a global pandemic. Instead of organic story telling it has become a writing challenge to get round all these issues, and the show suffered.

I don’t have a major issue with the Commonwealth. It’s beyond unbelievable, but so was the Kingdom, the junkyard folk, the wolves, the whisperers, not to mention the zombies themselves. I look at the story as a modern fairy tale, and what’s keeping me going is my interest in how the people in our core group cope with these conflicts, even if they’re somewhat surreal. I have bonded with the characters and want to see now how their stories end according to this version of the story. There was the comics, there was the tv show, there was plenty of very creative fan fiction - all weaving different stories from the same starting thread. I love that, it’s modern folklore.

I have had multiple issues with TWD, some same as yours, some others. And it’s interesting when we reach a point of having had enough, and how far the love for something (or someone) can carry us, forgiving faults. It appears my love for the characters (and my curiosity) still carries me and I’m still fine with forgiving faults.

In all honesty this show should have been rounded off probably in 8 seasons. Yet, I’m ok with it still going on because I enjoy the characters, and totally chuffed about the spin-offs, as I’m not ready to say goodbye to them. So I guess it boils down to love at the end of the day, how much we are prepared to forgive.

 

Bottle episodes are fine if you use them sparingly, and for something significant. For instance the one they had in Season 4, where Rick and Carl go back to their hometown with Michonne and find Morgan is one of the best of the series. The problem though is when you do it every week to tell your story. Then in the last episode or two they bring everyone together and the entire narrative just feels disjointed.

 

Oh yes, Clear was a fantastic episode. Michonne getting the Grimes family photo fit Carl and that funky cat is one of my favourite scenes. Michonne and Carl were always golden together. I so miss them both.

 

@BlackBird no you can't really view these characters as being real people anymore if you want to enjoy the series. And that is probably one of the main faults with this show now. Most people don't view the horror genre as being some sort of fairy tale. They already have franchises that do that for them. When TWD was at its height most people seemed to view it as a realistic portrayal of how people would act in a post-apocalyptic environment. It clearly no longer is that and so it probably isn't any coincidence then that it has lost most of its audience.

Let's hope that Last of Us can bring us back to those days of having a realistic portrayal of how humans act in world where civilization has collapsed. Because in my opinion that is the only way zombie shows become more than just your generic hack and slash zombie flick.

 

That’s an interesting concept but let’s face it, people act in ways that’s hard to understand everyday in RL and civilization hasn’t collapsed. It’s not too far fetched to believe then that there would be “over the top characters” in a world where people reanimated after death and tried to eat you. I thought we were given a nice little selection of the different roads people might take to survive and thrive if they could, working with or at the expense of others.

What I found made it difficult to watch was the deaths of so many characters that we became vested in each season although that might have been what would really happen under such difficult circumstances.*shrugs*

At this point though, I’m ready to see a conclusion to what has been a hard existence for some of those we have followed and cared for from the beginning. If they can find a happy ending, I’ll take it whether it’s technically a fairly tale or not.

 

Glenn Mazzara caught a lot of heat for Season 3. It was mainly because he killed off Andrea who lasted much further in the comics. But I'm guessing it's because the plan was to bring Rick and Michonne together instead.

Nevertheless, his portrayal of the world was grittier and more realistic than what we got from Gimple. It felt like no one was safe then. It was similar to early Game of Thrones in that way. And that keeps you immersed in the show.

I think that's what was so jarring too about the Negan introduction episode. After having main characters bulletproof for so long (Glenn even had the dumpster dive) we suddenly had this excessive, macabre brutality and they just drowned you in it.

I find it amazing that Gimple is still in the position that he holds with this franchise, after where he's led it. He should be off in oblivion now with Dan and Dave from Game of Thrones.

 

I agree with this.

Inevitably the show had to change over the years as TF encountered different communities and their fortunes changed. They also became better equipped to deal with the new world and its dangers.

To be fair, even a very good thing can become stale without change. So the feel
of the show changed. I did enjoy some of the changes over the years but I must agree that the first four seasons were the best - for the reasons above.