The Closest We’re Getting To The Walking Dead Season 12 Is This 2-Year-Old Miniseries

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Around the early 2020s, The Walking Dead shifted its focus. Instead of a twelfth season, the show’s creators decided to develop several spin-off series featuring familiar characters in new locations, both within the United States and internationally. These spin-offs generally tell independent stories. For example, The Walking Dead: Dead City follows Maggie and Negan navigating a dangerous situation in New York years after the original series ended, and Daryl Dixon explores what happened in Europe after the outbreak began.

Both new shows add to the story of The Walking Dead, but the way the franchise has expanded has left some storylines from season 11 unfinished. Because of this, fans continue to hope for a reunion of the original cast. Scott Gimple, who oversees the franchise, said in 2023 he wouldn’t be opposed to a twelfth season of The Walking Dead, but there haven’t been any developments since then.

Now that season 12 of The Walking Dead feels like a distant memory, it really hits me that the last truly compelling story we got from that universe was actually a limited series from almost two years ago. It’s a bit sad, honestly, realizing that’s where the peak was.

The Ones Who Live Was The Walking Dead Season 12 In All But Name

Although released as a separate series in 2023, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live essentially functioned as season twelve of The Walking Dead.

Compared to other recent shows in The Walking Dead universe like Dead City and Daryl Dixon, The Ones Who Live finally answered the biggest question fans had: what happened to Rick Grimes. Over six episodes, the series showed everything Rick had been through, revealed the truth about the CRM organization, and ultimately brought it down. It not only explained Rick’s disappearance from season nine, but also made his long-awaited return with Michonne in the final episode of The Walking Dead truly satisfying.

While it might have felt like just another continuation of The Walking Dead if only Rick and Michonne returned, that wasn’t the case. The Ones Who Live also brought back characters like Pollyanna McIntosh as Jadis and, notably, Seth Gilliam as Gabriel Stokes. This allowed the show to finish a romantic storyline that began around season 7 of The Walking Dead.

While Dead City and Daryl Dixon largely introduced new characters and stories, only referencing the original show as a beginning, The Ones Who Live took a different approach. It focused on the questions and characters that fans of the main series were most eager to see resolved.

Of the three newest shows branching off from The Walking Dead, The Ones Who Live stood out for sticking closest to the original series’ familiar feel. While Daryl explores a grand European setting and Dead City embraces a darker, more detective-style atmosphere, The Ones Who Live felt most like a continuation of The Walking Dead itself.

Why The Walking Dead Season 12 Should Still Happen

While The Ones Who Live offered some continuation after The Walking Dead ended, the main story still needs a proper follow-up. Because The Ones Who Live only had six episodes, it couldn’t resolve everything, and a complete conclusion will require bringing back the entire cast.

In The Ones Who Live, Rick reunited with Judith and finally met RJ, but the story also needs to show his reconnection with Daryl and how he reacts to seeing Negan again. The show still has unanswered questions from The Walking Dead, like the meaning of Designation 2 and the strange PPP card linked to Heath. Most importantly, Rick needs to share a devastating truth with his friends: humanity only has 14 years left before facing extinction.

The storylines of The Walking Dead universe – including Morgan’s return in Fear the Walking Dead, the virus’s origins hinted at in World Beyond, and the mystery of different zombie types – have created a lot of unanswered questions. Season 12 is the last chance to tie up all these loose ends.

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2025-11-17 21:20