Robert Kirkman Talks Expanding ‘The Walking Dead’ Universe, Ending of Series

Robert Kirkman, the man responsible for giving fans the world of The Walking Dead, knows that his comic book series and TV show could continue for years to come, but whenever it is time to wrap it all up, the writer/executive producer knows how he wants it all to end.

Kirkman recently visited comedian Marc Maron’s WTF podcast and talked about his thoughts on the end of the series, as well as whether or not he’d be open to expanding the TWD universe even further, among other things.

“It’s a very popular show, and [the executives at AMC] seem to want it to go for 50 seasons. And it may go for 50 seasons, but there is definitely an end point at some point,” Kirkman told Maron. “The idea is that this story that’s longer than it has any business being, but it’s that length and watching those characters evolve over that time that’s gonna make it be this piece, that when it’s all done, you’ll look back on it and be like ‘what the hell, I thought they were just killing zombies. There’s totally an arc here and a thing going on, and I didn’t think the story was about this!’”

Kirkman went on to say:

“People talk about how The Walking Dead is bleak, and if you take a certain cross-section of the story, then yeah. Horrible. People have their loved ones eaten and they have a horrible time. But I see the story from beginning to end, over many many years about humanity overcoming this insurmountable apocalyptic situation.”

With companion series Fear The Walking Dead set to premiere next month, Maron also asked about the possibility of the universe expanding even further, possibly into other countries to which Kirkman replied, “We may eventually explore that, but to me, it’s about finding water, it’s about building a fence — when you make it bigger, that’s when it gets less interesting to me.”

The Fear the Walking Dead series premiere airs at 9 p.m. Aug. 23 on AMC and don’t miss the season six premiere of The Walking Dead Oct. 11 at 9pm on AMC.

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