After 12 years on our screens, The Walking Dead is set to end in 2022. Due to the pandemic affecting production, we don’t exactly have two seasons left to go, but we do have the same amount of episodes, as there’s still a total of 30 installments remaining before the groundbreaking post-apocalyptic drama says goodbye.
Of course, fans were devastated by the news when it dropped in early September, but it’s even more of an emotional experience for those who make the show. While speaking on AMC’s Walking Dead Universe Preview Special last weekend, Lauren Cohan told host Chris Hardwick that it was “such a crazy sensation” to find out the news that TWD was coming to a close. “I mean, bittersweet, of course,” she added, before going on to describe the “mixed bag of emotions” brought about by the announcement.
“When you really, really love a show, it’s quite exciting to know that it’s actually ending, and it sort of creates this kind of community… and now we can kind of all be together when it’s ending,” she said.
Cohan continued by pointing out that it’s far from over yet, given all that’s still left to shoot, saying:
“Part of me was like, ‘Cool, we’re having this actual ending to this massive show,'” Cohan continued. “The show is ending, but we still have two calendar years worth of stuff to film. So it’s not really going to feel real to anybody yet. Check in with me in like 19 months and bring a box of tissues.”
The actress is currently back in Georgia beginning work on the six additional episodes of season 10 that will arrive in early 2021. Following those, a jumbo-sized 24-part season 11 will premiere later that same year and continue on through until late 2022, bringing the series to its grand conclusion. Cohan is expected to be a regular throughout the remainder of the run as well, seeing as she’s back in the season 10 finale, after temporarily leaving partway through season 9.
She’s right that the show will get an “actual ending,” but it’s not like the whole TWD universe is done with. As well as the Andrew Lincoln movies, there’s a spinoff for Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride coming and a Tales of the Walking Dead anthology series. In the short term, though, be sure to catch The Walking Dead 10×16 “A Certain Doom” this Sunday.