Upcoming "twists and turns" in The Walking Dead universe include a Rick and Michonne spin-off

The Walking Dead’s flagship series may be coming to a close with its eleventh season, but there’s plenty more to devour. At Friday’s San Diego Comic-Con panel showcasing members of the cast and crew, surprise guests Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira showed up to confirm a long-rumored, highly anticipated spin-off: a Walking Dead limited series for Rick and Michonne, to air on AMC in 2023.

Considering the drama’s leading man Rick Grimes never received the bloody and/or heroic death typical of characters on this long-running series, and Michonne’s departure last season served to, well, go make sure he’s alive, fans have long speculated their stories aren’t finished. A six-episode limited series, featuring Lincoln and Gurira as both stars and executive producers, will now replace the three Rick-centered original films that producers had previously announced were in the works. While they and the other panelists in Hall H didn’t reveal details, a synopsis has been unveiled via AMC:

This series presents an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive—or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?

Comic-Con attendees were treated to two back-to-back Walking Dead panels, both moderated by superfan and Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick. Writer-producers Scott Gimple and Channing Powell were on hand to preview Tales Of The Walking Dead, the anthologized series premiering August 14 that features one-off stories set within the walker apocalypse (with the sick tagline “6 Different Stories, 1 Dead World”) starring Terry Crews, Danny Ramirez, Parker Posey, and more. Although not directly impacting The Walking Dead’s overall timeline, Tales will include a prequel tale for Alpha, as actor Samantha Morton confirmed, despite the fan-favorite villain now going by the name Dee. “Dee is who Alpha was before she becomes Alpha,” teased Morton. “But she’s also always Alpha, she’s always there—we are who we are.”

Kicking off the bittersweet final Comic-Con panel for the original Walking Dead series, showrunner Angela Kang promised the remaining episodes will be “really emotional. And there are big twists and turns.” Cast members on hand to bring those emotions (read: turn on the waterworks) included Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Seth Gilliam, Lauren Ridloff, Judy Fleming, and Michael James Shaw.

Executive producer Greg Nicotero, who directed many of the series’ first episodes and has returned to helm its conclusion, addressed their hordes of fans: “Directing the finale, I felt all of the weight of the expectation of every person in this room. Everybody rolled up their sleeves and said we have an obligation to the fans. We did it.” The Walking Dead will begin staggering to its finale October 2 on AMC and streaming on AMC+.