The first wave of casting for AMC’s latest and highly anticipatedThe Walking Deadspinoff series,Tales of the Walking Dead,has just been announced, with some familiar and unexpected faces showing up.Anthony Edwards,Parker Posey,Terry Crews,Poppy LiuandJillian Bellare all attached to the project. These names attached to aWalking Deadseries comes as a bit of a surprise, as most of the stories from this universe lean towards horror and drama while the majority of these actors are known for their comedic work.
AMC Studios is producing the new episodic anthology series, which will consist of six original, standalone stories that highlight both new and established characters within the world ofThe Walking Dead. According toScott M. Gimple, chief content officer of the Walking Dead Universe and executive producer for the new series, the tone of the series will span a wide range of human emotions:
Anthony, Jillian, Terry, Parker, and Poppy are the first wave of singular talents who will further expand the Walking Dead Universe into harrowing, hilarious, heartfelt, and horrifying new realms, and we couldn’t be happier to welcome them to the family along with these terrific directors.
Haifaa al-Mansour(Good Lord Bird,Motherland),Deborah Kampmeier(Star Trek: Picard) andTara Nicole Weyr(The Wilds,Bosch) have all been tapped to direct one episode each, with series producerMichael Stratezmis, who has also worked on bothThe Walking DeadandFear the Walking Dead, directing the other three episodes. Showrunner forTales of the Walking Dead,Channing Powell, shared his excitement for the new series stating that they’ve “worked hard to create unique, interesting, and unexpected characters for both new and old TWD fans.”
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Anticipating audience reaction to the first wave of cast announcements, Powell also shared that these actors will indeed be flexing their comedy muscles on the series: “I can’t wait for you to see the depth, drama, terror, and yes, humor they bring to the screen.”
The Walking Deadwill return for the second part of season eleven on February 20 at 9 p.m. ET, with new episodes available a week in advance on AMC+ starting February 13. While we don’t have an official release date forTales of The Walking Dead, the series is expected to premiere sometime this summer on AMC and AMC+. Stay tuned for further casting announcements on the series.
