\n| ShortSummary = In a series of flashbacks, Leo and Kari adopt Hope and Iris as babies. Leo later talks about Hope's genius with Lyla Belshaw whom he is dating; Lyla subsequently informs the CRM, causing them to deem Hope \"the asset\". In the present, Leo expresses his distrust of the CRM to Lyla and asks for her help in proving that he's right. Elton and Percy locate Silas and reveal that Huck was the one who had murdered Tony and shot Percy; with CRM soldiers closing in, Silas turns himself in to give his friends the chance to get away. Elton and Percy agree to find their friends and save them with Percy seeking to get revenge on Huck. Hope confronts Huck who reveals that the CRM need Hope's talents to help with Leo's research and rebuild the world, but they needed her to see what she was trying to save which is why they had set Hope on her cross-country path. After a fight between Huck and Felix, Hope agrees to go with the CRM, but she secretly tells Iris that they are going to beat the CRM together. Hope and Huck meet with Kublek who tells Huck that she intends to deal with the other Endlings despite Huck's protests. In the woods, Felix and Iris are reunited with Will who is with a large group of people and realizes that they do not know that the Campus Colony has been destroyed.\n| LineColor = 1BE496\n}}"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mw-Q">
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11 | 1 | "Konsekans" | Loren Yaconelli | Matthew Negrete | October 3, 2021 | 0.753 [32] | |
Six weeks ago, the CRM leads an unimaginably large herd to Omaha and destroys the walls, letting the herd overrun the city and then doing the same thing to the Campus Colony a few days later; Kublek tells Frank Newton that this is only just the beginning of their plans. In the present, Kublek takes Hope to the ruins of Albany where she reveals the destruction of Omaha and the Campus Colony. Unwilling to risk bringing Hope to the research facility, Kublek releases Hope into the city to make a choice between trying to survive on her own and working with the CRM towards a future. After being cornered by a herd, suffering a concussion and hallucinations, Hope agrees to work with the CRM, but privately admits to Huck that while she now believes in working towards a future, she will not help the CRM create one; Hope is reunited with her father at long last. Huck lies to her mother about the Endlings' degree of knowledge to protect them and offers a solution for dealing with the imprisoned Silas. Will reveals to Felix and Iris the destruction of their home and how he was targeted for execution for asking too many questions. Will leads them to the Perimeter, an artist's colony with a neutrality agreement with the CRM and warns that they must prepare for the long game against them. Haunted by nightmares of a walker with a CRM helmet under its face, Iris realizes that the CRM destroyed her home and ambushes and kills a patrolling soldier in revenge. | |||||||
12 | 2 | "Foothold" | Loren Yaconelli | Carson Moore | October 10, 2021 | 0.807 [33] | |
Iris, Felix and Will capture a walker and dress it up as Will to make it appear as if Will and the soldier had killed each other; Iris shares her belief that the CRM had destroyed their home, something that Will agrees with. The CRM searches the Perimeter for the group, leading to a tense moment before the bodies are found and the CRM is successfully fooled; Iris and Felix later let out their aggression by eliminating a herd together. At the research facility, Hope takes notes on the security and is given a tour by Lyla who reveals that their research is aimed at both discovering what causes the undead and finding a way to eliminate the ones that already exist, a long-term plan expected to occur over generations. Hope befriends a boy named Mason while Leo, having learned about the CRM's manipulations towards his daughters, demands that the CRM bring him Iris and Felix. Hope hesitates to share the truth with her father while Lyla is shown reporting on Hope and Leo to Kublek. Silas is taken to work at a CRM culling facility run by Dennis Graham where he, Webb, Grady and Tiga work to clear New York of the undead; Dennis is revealed to be Huck's husband. | |||||||
13 | 3 | "Exit Wounds" | Aisha Tyler | Rayna McClendon | October 17, 2021 | 0.669 [34] | |
Huck reunites with her husband Dennis and is cleared for a return to active duty following her successful mission. However, Huck struggles to cope with the things that she was forced to do with it being revealed that her mission was a result of a mistake that Dennis made that got people hurt and Huck's own attempts to fix it; Huck decides that, for the time being, she cannot be with Dennis until she sorts her feelings out. Hope attends school and bonds further with Mason as well as coming up with the idea of using yeast fermentation to help accelerate the decay of the undead. However, with Leo continuing to press hard to find Iris and Felix, Hope convinces Huck to take her to the Perimeter using a jeep borrowed from Dennis. Searching for their friends, Elton and Percy try to steal from siblings Asha and Dev, getting them into trouble; Asha and Dev turn out to be Indira's children and they take Elton and Percy to the Perimeter where they are reunited with Iris. Informed of recent events, Elton bonds with Asha while Iris reconnects with Percy. That night, Hope and Huck arrive with Percy plotting revenge against Huck for his uncle's murder. | |||||||
14 | 4 | "Family Is a Four Letter Word" | Aisha Tyler | Maya Goldsmith | October 24, 2021 | 0.688 [35] | |
In flashbacks, Huck begins her mission to Omaha. In the present, Hope, Iris, Felix and Huck are reunited and Hope and Huck attempt to convince Iris and Felix to return to the research facility with them. However, Iris and Felix reveal their belief that the CRM had destroyed Omaha and the Campus Colony and they refuse to go with them with Iris failing to convince Hope to stay at the Perimeter instead. While walking in the woods together, Felix almost kills Huck, but he holds off for the time being. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the vengeful Percy attempts to kill Huck, but he is foiled by Felix and Will who reveal Will's survival to Huck and that the CRM had tried to murder him; Huck promises to keep Will's survival a secret. Unable to face Hope yet, Elton flees into the woods where he finds hidden dialysis equipment and bonds further with Asha who claims that it is for her and secretly sourced from the CRM; it's later revealed that Asha is actually covering for her mother who is suffering from kidney failure. Iris keeps Percy's survival a secret from Hope and Huck and later shares a kiss with him; Hope receives a gift from Mason and is convinced of the CRM's guilt by the revelation of what they did to Will. Silas continues working at the culling facility, but his attempts to leave in search of the Endlings results in hazing from his coworkers; Dennis convinces Silas to stay and Webb gets into CRM training. Kublek makes an address about the recent tragedy to Portland and the Civic Republic and her evasive answers about the survivors causes Huck to begin to doubt the CRM's version of events. | |||||||
15 | 5 | "Quatervois" | Heather Cappiello | Ben Sokolowski | October 31, 2021 | 0.510 [36] | |
The Endlings visit the culling facility where they enlist Silas' help to break Hope and Leo out of the research facility the next day using one of the facility's box trucks and Dennis' key cad; although initially reluctant, Silas agrees to help. Elton continues to grow closer to Asha who reveals the truth about her mother's illness, explaining that it has to be kept secret as those who wish to lead the Perimeter in a different way will use it against her. Iris and Felix, joined by Percy disguised as Elton, have Indira and Dev turn them over to the CRM and manage to fool Kublek into believing their story. Experimenting with Hope's suggestion of using yeast, Leo and his colleagues have some success in accelerating the decay of the undead before Hope reveals the truth to her father. Leo agrees to their escape plan, but Silas is captured by CRM soldiers, foiling it. Increasingly suspicious of the CRM, Huck finds coded transmissions in her mother's safe confirming the CRM's guilt and that they are using some of the people from Omaha and the Campus Colony as test subjects; Huck seeks out Leo's help to stop it. In a post-credits scene, Sergeant Major Barca has been delivered as Lyla's newest test subject by Jadis who declares that Kublek has been recalled to the Civic Republic indefinitely and Jadis is now in charge. | |||||||
16 | 6 | "Who Are You?" | Heather Cappiello | Rohit Kumar | November 7, 2021 | 0.431 [37] | |
In flashbacks, Leo bonds with Lyla while on a research expedition. In the present, Leo determines from the transmissions that Huck had given him that the CRM had used some kind of large-scale chemical weapon to destroy Omaha and the Campus Colony; the massive herd was just the coverup. The Endlings agree to abort their escape and stay to get answers, enlisting Huck's help. After Leo realizes that Lyla is involved, he invites her to dinner as a distraction while Felix and Huck break into a secret cold storage in search of answers; while working with Felix, Huck reveals that she had taken her undercover mission after getting caught covering up for a tough call that Dennis had made while drunk that got people hurt. As Huck creates a power outage, Felix steals a vial of the CRM's weapon and discovers that they have a massive stockpile of gas cannisters of it; Felix briefly gets trapped before Huck rescues him, reassuring Felix that she really is on their side. Jadis reveals that she is performing a security audit and discusses her past with Huck while expressing concern that Huck's undercover mission has changed her. Iris sends a message to Will and Elton effectively declaring war on the CRM; after a failed coup by Brody, Elton reveals Indira's illness to Will. While Elton performs a flower ceremony with Asha, Dev helps Will sneak into the research facility to warn the others. However, the two are found by a patrol and Dev is killed while Will flees. | |||||||
17 | 7 | "Blood and Lies" | Lily Mariye | Sinead Daly | November 14, 2021 | 0.490 [38] | |
After Dennis backs up his story, Jadis releases Silas into Dennis' custody and expressing interest in him becoming a CRM soldier in the future before beginning an investigation into the missing vial with the help of Huck. At the same time, Leo discovers that the vial contains a modified variant of chlorine gas which is what the CRM had used to wipe out Omaha and the Campus Colony under the cover of a massive walker attack. In exchange for the vial's return, Lyla Belshaw reveals to Hope and Iris that her secret work is about studying reanimation as it happens using bitten or killed test subjects. She also reveals that the Civic Republic government has no idea what their military is up to. After getting the vial back, Lyla exposes Leo as the thief and the true nature of her work to him and he reluctantly agrees to help her with research. However, Jadis has Lyla killed by her newest test subject, Sergeant Major Barca, and reveals to Huck that the CRM intends to wipe out Portland next. Huck warns the others through Percy after talking him down from killing her in revenge and Hope decides that they must destroy the facility and rescue all of the scientists in order to stop the CRM. Huck reveals the truth to Dennis and enlists his help before being confronted by Silas while Hope learns that her new friend Mason is actually the son of Major General Beale, one of the high-ranking officials of the CRM. | |||||||
18 | 8 | "Returning Point" | Lily Mariye | Eddie Guzelian | November 21, 2021 | 0.527 [39] | |
In a flashback to two years before, Kublek offers Indira discreet medical treatment for her kidney failure. In the present, Leo informs the other scientists of the genocide committed by the CRM and they agree to join him in escaping with all of their research. After learning about Indira's deal, Brody betrays his people to Jadis in the hopes of getting a home in the Civic Republic, but he is executed by Huck when he tries to blackmail her. Jadis orders a lockdown of the facility, apparently trapping the Bennett family, Percy, Felix, the scientists and Mason Beale, whom Hope abducts, in the bio-containment unit while she sends a team to the Perimeter to kill everyone there. After Indira fails to talk Jadis down, a gunfight erupts between the CRM soldiers, Will, Dennis, Silas and Indira, ending with all of the soldiers and a few of the residents dead as well as Dennis being severely wounded. Having come to inform the others of the plan, Dennis orders Silas to take his friends and get ready for what comes next. While the facility is on lockdown, the group trapped in the lab are able to break into the old mining tunnels beneath the facility, setting C4 to cover their escape behind them. Jadis reveals to Huck that the scientists have wiped all of their research from the mainframe and, in order to set an example, she sends teams into the tunnels with orders to kill everybody on sight. | |||||||
19 | 9 | "Death and the Dead" | Loren Yaconelli | Erin Martin & Sam Reynolds | November 28, 2021 | 0.539 [40] | |
The Bennett family, Percy, Felix, the scientists and Mason Beale escape into Lyla's lab where they attach C4 to a number of her zombified test subjects and send them into the tunnels, collapsing the tunnels and killing a number of CRM soldiers. Using Mason as a hostage, Leo forces Jadis to give them two trucks to escape with, but only the scientists go while the others remain behind in order to destroy the chlorine gas. However, after putting down several test subjects in the facility's cold storage, including a reanimated Lyla, Hope and Felix discover that Jadis has anticipated that they would go after the gas and had secretly moved it. At the same time, Elton manages to remove the bullet from Dennis and he and Silas gather a massive herd and lead it to the research facility as a distraction for the others. The herd overruns the facility, forcing the CRM to retreat. With Dennis needing antibiotics, Silas and Elton raid the medical storage room, leading to the death of Silas' old coworker Webb when he draws walkers upon himself while trying to stop them. Using the globe sculpture that the Perimeter had built for the CRM, Silas and Elton manage to escape. However, as the others make their own escape, they are confronted by Jadis who reveals that the CRM had committed the genocide as a preemptive move after discovering that the Alliance had become too reliant upon them for survival which would have eventually created a chaotic chain reaction of disasters that had the potential to spread to the Republic itself. Huck is forced to break her cover in order to save her friends, but Percy is killed while trying to stop Mason from escaping. In the aftermath, Jadis contacts Major General Beale for reinforcements and to move up the attack on Portland while a spike strip strands Leo and several of the scientists in enemy territory. Although the Endlings believe that they have lost, Huck stumbles upon the gas hidden at Dennis' culling facility, giving them one last chance to stop the genocide in Portland. | |||||||
20 | 10 | "The Last Light" | Loren Yaconelli | Matthew Negrete & Maya Goldsmith & Carson Moore | December 5, 2021 | 0.428 [41] | |
Frank Newton and a team of soldiers ambush Leo, Felix, Will and the scientists leading to a gunfight in which Leo and Will kill the CRM soldiers and Felix lures Frank away. After a brutal fight, Felix disembowels Frank and leaves him to be devoured by walkers. At the same time, the Endlings fight their way through the herd back to Dennis' outpost where Silas decides to stay and help Huck and Dennis. Iris, Hope and Elton manage to escape the area with the help of Indira and Asha, but Elton is bitten in the arm while protecting Hope, forcing him to undergo an amputation. After sending Silas and Dennis away, Huck fights Jadis who kills Huck, but learns too late that Huck has rigged up her father's watch as a makeshift timer on the C4. Jadis escapes as the gas is destroyed and she arrests Kublek for treason, blaming her for the CRM's failure. With the CRM closing in on them, the mortally wounded Dennis has Silas kill him in order to convince the CRM that he was an unwilling participant. Silas accepts an offer from Jadis to join the CRM while secretly plotting to infiltrate the organization and warn the right people about the CRM's actions. After Elton recovers, he, Iris, Asha and a number of Indira's people make their way to Portland while Leo, Hope, Indira, the scientists and a now married Felix and Will remain behind to continue their research. In a post-credits scene, a French scientist is confronted by a man who accuses the woman and her colleagues of causing and worsening the outbreak. The man kills the scientist who becomes a faster, stronger and more aggressive kind of zombie while Dr. Edwin Jenner discusses the overseas variants in a video message in the background. |
In July 2018, during San Diego Comic Con, executive producer Scott Gimple announced that a new The Walking Dead spin-off series was in the works. [42] In April 2019, AMC gave a ten-episode order for the series. [4] In July, the series was given the working title of Monument. [43] On November 24, 2019, Gimple revealed the show's title. [44] In January 2020, alongside the series premiere date announcement, AMC confirmed that the series would only consist of two seasons. [5]
In July 2019, Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu, and Hal Cumpston were cast in undisclosed main roles. [14] The same month, Aliyah Royale and Annet Mahendru joined the cast. [13] The following month, Nico Tortorella also joined. [15] Julia Ormond was announced as a cast member in November 2019, playing the role of Elizabeth Kublek, the "charismatic leader of a large, sophisticated and formidable force". [16]
In August 2019, Joe Holt was cast in a recurring role. [17] In November, Natalie Gold, Al Calderon, Scott Adsit and Ted Sutherland were cast as Lyla, Barca, Tony and Percy. [16]
In May 2021, Robert Palmer Watkins joined the cast in a recurring role for the second season. [19] For the second season, Joe Holt, Jelani Alladin, Natalie Gold and Ted Sutherland were promoted to series regulars. [2]
Filming for the series began late July 2019 in Richmond, Virginia, and was expected to last until November 2019. [45] Jordan Vogt-Roberts was originally announced to be the director of the pilot episode. [46] Vogt-Roberts was replaced with Magnus Martens, who previously directed for Fear the Walking Dead . The change in directors was a result of the writers mapping out the rest of the season and production needing to go in a different direction; Negrete said Vogt-Roberts contributed ideas to the first episode. [47] The series was looking to film a plane crash in the vein of Lost with filming to take place in Hopewell, Virginia, during the first two weeks of August. [43]
The series was originally set to premiere on April 12, 2020, on AMC, after the tenth season finale of The Walking Dead. [48] However, in March 2020, AMC announced that the premiere had been delayed and would instead debut "later [that] year". [49] On July 24, 2020, it was announced that the series would premiere on October 4, 2020. [50] The series premiered on October 1, 2020, on AMC+, AMC's premium on-demand streaming service; each episode became available three days before its broadcast premiere. [51] The final season premiered on October 3, 2021, on AMC. [2]
Outside the United States, the series is distributed by Amazon Prime Video and first premiered on October 2, 2020. [52] [53]
The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 15, 2021. [54] The second season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 8, 2022. [55]
The Walking Dead: World Beyond received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a score of 46% with an average rating of 4.90/10 based on 24 critics. The website's critical consensus reads: "World Beyond's strong performances and new perspective within The Walking Dead universe aren't enough to make it stand out in an increasingly crowded franchise." [56] On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 48 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicated "mixed or average reviews". [57]
Daniel D'Addario of Variety gave it a generally positive review and wrote, "This is not a perfect series... And yet there's a willingness to reinvent, to genuinely probe a corner of the universe previously untouched, that makes this series feel serious in its intent and, for fans of the forerunning series, well worth checking out". [58] In a more negative review from Candice Frederick of TV Guide , she graded the series two out of five stars and wrote, "World Beyond doesn't offer audiences fresh ideas or even fascinating characters for which to root." [59]