Season 1 of AMC's Tales of the Walking Dead premiered on August 14, 2022, and concluded on September 18, 2022, consisting of 6 episodes. The series is an anthology companion series to The Walking Dead, which is based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. It was executive produced by Kirkman, David Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd, Brian Bockrath, Scott Gimple, Michael Satrazemis and Channing Powell, with Powell assuming the role of showrunner.

This season consists of six original one-hour standalone episodes focused on both new and established characters within the walker apocalypse. Each episode has its own distinct tone and point of view - but the stakes are high in each story, pushing new, indelible characters with relentless, life-threatening choices and situations. We get to see the apocalypse through different eyes, discovering more worlds, mythos, and mysteries of The Walking Dead.^[3]

Plot[]

"Evie / Joe"[]

Joe, a lonely man who has been living in a bunker since before the beginning of the apocalypse, leaves the safety of his home to embark on a 700 mile road trip to meet with a former online friend. On the road, he encounters Evie, who joins him on a similar mission. After Evie initially kidnaps him, the two bond before being broken apart by the theft of Joe's motorcycle. Evie is unable to find her ex-husband Steven, but she finds proof that he really did love her in the end instead of hating her. Joe locates his friend Sandra's bunker, but Sandra has been driven insane and become a serial killer targeting men. Evie rescues Joe who is forced to kill Sandra in self-defense. After locking her reanimated corpse in the bunker, Evie convinces Joe that there is more to life and they resume their journey.

"Blair / Gina"[]

Two feuding office employees at an insurance company, receptionist Gina and her boss Blair, caught in a time loop at the beginning of the apocalypse, must work together to save their loved ones and escape the city of Atlanta. After working together to save a large group of fleeing civilians from a herd and faces their respective fears, the time loop is finally broken, although Gina suggests that, alternatively, they may be experiencing a shared delusion.

"Dee"[]

Alpha, known then as "Dee", tries to protect her daughter Lydia on the community steamboat they live in post-apocalypse, but grows jealous of another resident, Brooke, who Lydia appears to like and trust more. Dee is alarmed by Brooke's naive view of the current world and attempt to maintain normality despite the dangers. Dee's suspicions of a resident named Billy prove to be true as Billy and his gang attempt to seize the boat for themselves; Dee and Lydia narrowly escape as the residents and the gang wipe each other out, leaving Brooke as the only other survivor. Dee scars Brooke's face for failing to protect her daughter after Lydia stops her mother from killing Brooke. At the end of their rope, Dee and Lydia are found by the Whisperers who are led at this time by a woman named Hera. Dee later kills Hera and turns Hera's face into her walker mask, becoming Alpha of the Whisperers.

"Amy / Dr. Everett"[]

A reclusive scientist and nature documentarian, Dr. Chauncey Everett, accompanies a stranger, Amy, as she tries to find the group of survivors she was separated from in an area of the Wiregrass region now called the Dead Sector. Amy's attempts to connect with Everett are largely unsuccessful as he sees the undead, which he has dubbed homo mortus, are the next stage of nature's evolution while humanity is the danger. Everett is focused on saving one of his missing research specimens, dubbed Specimen 21, who is later revealed to be one of his former colleagues, but Specimen 21 is eaten by an alligator. Amy and Everett have a falling out after he stops her from saving two of her friends before Everett reveals that her camp is in the path of a massive herd and is doomed. Amy rushes off to warn her friends, but Everett later discovers that they have fallen to the herd and turned themselves. Everett begins tagging his new specimens for study, including a now undead Amy, although Everett displays some hesitation when faced with his former friend.

"Davon"[]

In a small town in Maine, Davon awakens with a head wound and temporary amnesia and shackled to the corpse of a woman named Amanda. After putting Amanda down, Davon hallucinates Amanda talking to him, accusing Davon of murder. In flashbacks, a wounded Davon arrives in town seven weeks earlier and he is taken in by Amanda and her sister Nora with whom he develops a romantic relationship. In the present, Davon finds a zombified boy in Amanda's basement and puts him down before being captured by the townspeople who accuse Davon of murdering their missing children and attempt to execute him. His memories slowly returning, Davon remembers finding Nora's son Garen who escaped while Davon fought off, shackled himself to and accidentally killed Amanda in self-defense when she tried to kill him. Escaping his execution, Davon finds Garen with Amanda's son Arnaud who has been kidnapping and murdering the town's children, convinced that he is sparing them from the horrors of the world while Amanda had been protecting her son. Finding the reanimated bodies of two of Arnaud's victims, Davon summons the townspeople and exposes Arnaud while Garen exonerates Davon. The enraged parents feed Arnaud to his own victims in revenge and the disgusted Davon leaves town.

"La Doña"[]

Eric and Idalia decide to try to take refuge at the house of an elderly woman, Doña Alma. She agrees to give them food and let them stay the night but insists they must leave the next day. Over dinner, Eric pushes the issue and asks to be allowed to stay for good, but Alma orders them to leave on the spot. She suddenly falls and hits her head, dying instantly. Though Eric is satisfied now having the well-protected house to themselves, Idalia is uncomfortable taking over the deceased woman's house. Idalia experiences various hallucinations and visions as she hears the voice of Alma insisting the house belongs to her. Eric is dismissive until he too begins seeing things, including believing the walker of their friend Maria is actually her back from the dead. The two become hostile with each other as the hauntings persist, but when they try to leave, they are chased into the basement by Alma's ghost. The pair are driven to stab each other and find themselves pulled into branches and walkers of people they met.

Episodes[]

Title Screen[]

Main article: Title Screens (Tales)

Cast[]

Deaths[]

• Gilligan
• Tom (Confirmed Fate)
• Sandra (Alive)
• Blair's Father (Confirmed Fate)
• Blair Crawford (At least 9 Timelines)
• Gina (At least 9 Timelines)
• Wendell Rogers
• Leo Rogers (Alive, Off-Screen)
• Oil Tanker Driver (At least 3 Timelines)
• Atlanta Husband (Alive and Zombified)
• Atlanta Wife (Alive and Zombified)
• Dee's Father (Confirmed Fate, Pre-Apocalypse)
• Mr. Langston (Off-Screen)
• Seventh Man
• Tough Guy
• Billy (Off-Screen)
• Nolan (Off-Screen)
• Jenna (Off-Screen)
• Todd (Off-Screen)
• Mitch (Off-Screen)
• Erika (Off-Screen)
• Louise (Off-Screen)
• Margot (Off-Screen)
• Hera (Off-Screen)
• Dr. Moseley (Zombified)
• Pat
• Hannah (Alive)
• Amy (Alive)
• Amanda (Alive and Zombified)
• Amanda's Husband (Confirmed Fate)
• Jules (Alive and Zombified)
• Martin (Confirmed Fate)
• Greer (Alive and Zombified, Off-Screen)
• David (Alive and Zombified, Off-Screen)
• Arnaud
• Maria (Alive, Off-Screen)
• Alma
• Paco
• Eric
• Idalia
• At least 12 unnamed bunker intruders (Confirmed Fate)
• At least 30 unnamed steamboat residents
• 5 unnamed members of Billy's gang (Off-Screen)
• At least 17 unnamed members of Amy's group (Alive)
• 5 unnamed people (Flashback)
• Many unnamed Michigan survivors (Confirmed Fate)
• Many unnamed Atlanta citizens (Multiple Timelines)
• 1 cow

Production[]

Casting[]

In February 2022, it was announced that Anthony Edwards, Parker Posey, Terry Crews, Poppy Liu, and Jillian Bell had been cast in starring roles.^[4][5] Daniella Pineda, Olivia Munn, Danny Ramirez, Loan Chabanol, Embeth Davidtz, Jessie T. Usher and Gage Munroe later joined the cast in undisclosed roles.^[6][7] In April 2022, it was confirmed that Samantha Morton would reprise her role as Alpha in an episode,^[8][9] and that Lauren Glazier and Matt Medrano had joined the cast.^[10]

Filming[]

Filming for the season began in January 2022 in Buford, Georgia, with the first episode directed by Michael Satrazemis; who has directed several episodes of both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.^[11][12] In February 2022, it was confirmed that Satrazemis would direct three of the six first-season episodes, with the remaining episodes directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, Deborah Kampmeier, and Tara Nicole Weyr (who previously directed for Fear the Walking Dead).^[13][14] Later, it was revealed that Ron Underwood would be directing an episode, replacing Weyr.^[15][16] In April 2022, a crew member suffered an accidental injury on set, briefly suspending production.^[17] Filming for the season wrapped in April 2022.^[18][19]

Release[]

Broadcast[]

The series premiered on AMC on August 14, 2022.^[20] The first episode was released on August 11, on AMC+ and each subsequent episode will be made available a week before their AMC air dates.^[21]

Marketing[]

A teaser trailer was released on April 10, 2022, using the tagline "6 Different Stories, 1 Dead World".^[22]

Reception[]

Critical Response[]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 74% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 23 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While these Tales of the Walking Dead are shaggy dog stories of varying quality, there's still enough meat on the bone to justify this expansion of the long-running zombie saga."^[23] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 60 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[24]

Trivia[]

• According to Channing Powell, the writers for this season conceptualized twenty-five different pitches for episodes before settling on six.^[25]
• An episode this season takes place "tentatively 35 years" into the outbreak.^[25]
  • This means that episode takes place in the year 2045.
  • This makes it the farthest into the apocalypse the Television Universe went so far.
    • It's also the farthest point into the apocalypse in the entire The Walking Dead franchise, surpassing even the big time jump of about 25 years in the Comic Series.
  • It was never confirmed which episode this was. However, the episodes "Evie / Joe", "Blair / Gina", and "Dee" can be ruled out as the former two taking place near the beginning of the apocalypse and the latter being before Alpha's appearance in the TV Series. The episodes "Amy / Dr. Everett" and "Davon" are confirmed to take place 10 and 15 years in the apocalypse, respectively. This leaves the episode "La Doña" as the only likely candidate.
    • However dialogue said by Eric, along with his age, indicate this to be unlikely as well.
• According to co-creator Scott Gimple, this season was originally intended to feature more returning characters and mythologies, though it's unknown why this didn't occur.^[26]

References[]