Tales of the Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic zombie horror series, the third spin-off of to the AMC series The Walking Dead, and the fourth overall installment in The Walking Dead Television Universe.
As with other Walking Dead content, the series is set After the End during a global Zombie Apocalypse. However, in a first for the franchise, the series is constructed in an anthology format with each episode telling a different story and having a different tone. Producers have likened it to staples of the genre such as The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror.
Among the superb slew of guest actors cast for Season 1 are Terry Crews, Poppy Liu, Parker Posey, Anthony Edwards, Jillian Bell, Daniella Pineda, Olivia Munn, Jessie T. Usher, Danny Ramirez, Loan Chabanol, Gage Munroe, Embeth Davidtz, Lauren Glazier, and Ameer Baraka. Samantha Morton and Scarlett Blum reprise their roles from The Walking Dead (as Alpha and Lydia, respectively) in Tales.
The series premiered on August 14, 2022. Teasers for the show can be seen here
and here, along with an official trailer.
Tropes
- Adaptation Expansion: The series continues the trend set by the parent show of expanding upon Dee's backstory, which was not detailed in the original comic series. It also expands more on the history of the Whisperers, revealing that they were not founded by Alpha.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The first two episodes of Season 1 are Denser and Wackier and Lighter and Softer as well, with the first episode having an unambiguously positive ending and the second having a light, zany tone for most of its' screentime. Then the third episode reintroduces Dee, the future Alpha, with the episodes growing darker and returning to the franchise's usual, grimmer tone.
- Continuity Nod: The CDC gets mentioned by Blair in the second episode which takes place in Atlanta.
- Denser and Wackier: The first two episodes of Season 1 feature much more comedy than is usual for the franchise, the latter also featuring a "Groundhog Day" Loop which toys with reality in ways that have never been seen before in the franchise.
- Downer Ending:
- "Amy; Dr. Everett" ends with Amy and her group being killed by walkers, and Everett clearly miserable that he has gotten what he wanted in being left alone.
- "Davon" ends with the titular character disgusted with the community brutally executing Arnaud for his murders of the community's children after trying to plead for their humanity.
- "La Doña" ends with Eric and Idalia killing each other after having been driven to madness.
- Face Death with Dignity: At one point growing desperate from the time loop she's stuck in, Blair allows a walker to bite her on the neck, resignedly saying to just "Get it over with".
- Given Name Reveal: Her episode in the first season reveals that Alpha's real name is Dee. Although this was hinted in Season 9 of the original series when she adapted the name "Deborah" while going undercover at the Kingdom fair, meaning "Dee" is likely a nickname.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: The second episode features Gina and Blair being trapped in one of these, reliving the same couple of hours between the end of the business day at their insurance form and the moment where Gina tries to hijack a fuel tanker to escape Atlanta with. Events always lead to one or both of them dying until they sacrifice the tanker to destroy a horde in order to allow a group of survivors to escape, with the two wandering off afterwards, wounded but alive.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The episodes that toy with fantastical elements have handled them in this manner. For instance, the two participants in the "Groundhog Day" Loop of episode two, the Pointy-Haired Boss and Beleaguered Assistant receptionist of a small insurance office, openly speculate at multiple points that the looping is simply their addled perception of events as their existing personality conflict collides with their traumatic last day of normal life.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: As seen elsewhere in the franchise, different people have different names for the walkers — Evie calls them "toe tags", Dr. Everett calls them "Homo Mortus", and Adalia calls them "sleepwalkers".
- Ruder and Cruder: The pilot episode features three uncensored uses of the word "fuck", whereas to date the mothership show only had one in the Season 11 episode "Trust".
- Saved by Canon: There's no chance of Alpha dying here since we know from the original series that she will go on to lead the Whisperers and eventually get her throat slashed by Negan.
- Time-Shifted Actor: As Cassady McClincy is too old to conceivably play Lydia in her preteens, she is instead portrayed by Scarlett Blum, who played the younger Lydia in flashback scenes from the parent series' "We Are the End of the World".
- Trailers Always Spoil: The first trailer for the series outright shows Blair allowing herself to be bitten by a walker on her neck. Subverted upon the actual episode's release, as it's a "Groundhog Day" Loop episode and this moment is only midway through.
