Anyone who knows me, knows I am a fan of The Walking Dead. What they may not realize is that I'm only a fan of the original show. Not the spinoffs, not the movies they keep telling us are coming, just that one show. Especially now that AMC has taken over and Robert Kirkman's vision is largely gone.
The original showrunner was Frank Darabont, but Darabont wanted the zombies to be smarter and faster than Kirkman did. As it was Kirkman's project, he won that battle. You can see some "smart zombies" in Season One... using rocks to break windows, trying to turn doorknobs, and climbing fences. The real-world explanation is Darabont, but I like to think those people were geniuses in life and a bit carried over into their undead state. There's never been an in-universe explanation - until now, apparently.
AMC's The Walking Dead Universe has introduced "variant cohorts" and is exploring the cause/cure of the zombie phenomenon... both things Kirkman flat refused to do. The zombies were never the point of his vision. AMC has Ashley-Cartered The Walking Dead. (Ashley-Carter is my own verb for retcons that harm the original creator's vision. It comes from the third author of the Falconhurst series of books and was my first experience with it.)
AMC is flooding the market with TWDU projects. They're trying to do in a single decade what took Star Wars and Star Trek decades. To me, that's overkill, but overkill seems to be the thing these days. Star Wars, Star Trek, and Marvel are all also doing it. Trek has currently, I believe, four shows and the Abrams movies. Star Wars has, I believe, three shows. Marvel has shows, but their focus seems to be movies.
From what I understand, most of the Trek projects are meant to be taking place in the same reality, making those shows a master class in Ashley-Cartering. So many contradictions.... The Marvel Universe has embraced the notion of a multiverse to avoid that issue. Star Wars seems to be managing to stay within the established universe except for Obi-Wan's memory issues in later life. But I digress. The focus here is meant to be on the overkill aspect.
It seems unwise to flood the market. Short term, you make piles of money. Long-term, you lose your audience. They will get sick of Spock and Spiderman and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They will get sick of Daryl Dixon, even if he remains just one version of himself. Flooding the market is just shooting yourself in the foot.
