The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 is set to premiere in Spring 2025, and the latest trailer from NYCC proves the Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan-led TWD spinoff has far from exhausted its narrative resources. After Maggie and Negan successfully rescue her son Hershel without having to go to war with the Croat, Negan chooses to stay behind and work for the Croat’s boss, the Dama. With season 2 expanded to 8 episodes after the first season’s 6, it will be interesting to see how the latest circumstances affect Maggie’s tentative truce with the man who killed her husband.

The finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1 left the door open for plenty of new stories, and anticipation has been building among The Walking Dead fandom — especially after The Ones Who Live reunited Rick and Michonne, and more recently Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol reunited everyone’s favorite zombie apocalypse best friend duo. The reunion between Maggie and Hershel, however, is wrought with more tension than one might expect now that her son is in his rebellious teenage years. Furthermore, she must make a choice between saving Negan from his worst tendencies or re-establishing him as an enemy forevermore.

ScreenRant invited the stars of Dead City and The Walking Dead universe Chief Content Officer Scott Gimple to our media suite at New York Comic-Con 2024, where the trio teased what to expect from season 2. Cohan gave insight into her directorial debut episode and Charles shared some of Perlie’s journey, while Gimple praised new cast member and Sons of Anarchy legend Kim Coates.

The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Gives Its Characters More Room To Contemplate If Change Is Possible

“It is a huge theme of the season that I think we serve very well and delicately in season 2.”

Screen Rant: Scott, what led to the decision to expand The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 into 8 episodes instead of 6?

Scott Gimple: I’m going to look at Lauren for that because she was a big part of that. Lauren said the story demanded it.

Lauren Cohan: Lauren said the story to demand it, yeah! The story would really benefit. It’s very, very difficult — as Scott can attest to, and there’s a lot of people who make shows can attest to — to get everything in place and get engines going to shoot a show, and then to only do six episodes. It feels like you’re ending just as beginning.

We had a lot of story to bring, a lot more characters to introduce, and a lot more stuff to develop between the existing characters this year. So, to have eight episodes to do that was really exciting. Yeah, I fought pretty hard for it.

Screen Rant: When we got to episode 4 last season, I felt like, “Wow, we’re getting there really fast.” So, 8 episodes is fantastic. Lauren, how does the complexity of Maggie’s feud with Negan influence her overarching themes throughout season 2?

Lauren Cohan: The themes in season 2 that are linked to Negan, or wrapped up in the Negan-Maggie dynamic, are really requiring both of them to look at themselves and who they’ve been. If change is possible, and how you have to go through what was to get to what could be. It is a huge theme of the season that I think we serve very well and delicately in season 2, and we’re all sort of put in this vat of those thoughts. Every character is sort of touched by this process.

Screen Rant: Gaius, how is Perlie’s journey evolving as he grapples with his lie about Negan? What new challenges does he face in navigating his role within New Babylon?

Gaius Charles: Oh, my gosh. I think for me and my character, it’s really about how you sort of keep the facade of this world, but also work behind the scenes to do what needs to be done. As I said before, we’re not the greatest of friends at the end of season 1, but in season 2 we figure out that we have to work together. Yeah, it’s #complicated.

The Conflict Doesn’t End For Maggie, Negan, And Herschel In The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2

“There aren’t particularly good influences for Maggie to lean on.”

Screen Rant: Scott, Negan seems to be returning to his old self now that he’s working for the Dama. Will we see Negan’s old self impact Maggie’s decision to save him?

Scott Gimple: Wow. Yeah, I shouldn’t really say, but the way you put it… Wow, there you are. The audience will see the old Negan; they will see that, and Maggie might see that too, maybe. And how would that affect you if you were Maggie? I’ll just say that.

Screen Rant: That’s a great answer. Lauren, Maggie and Hershel have a decade’s worth of unresolved issues. How will we see their relationship begin to heal this season?

Lauren Cohan: I don’t know if we will see it begin to heal or if we will see it be pressure-cooked and challenged. I think that the greatest joy — I’ll say joy, because I like that this is relatable — is exploring this dynamic in great detail.

There was something I heard the other day that I thought was so interesting; that between the age of 7 and 16, children and adolescents are terribly rebellious and nothing our parents say can possibly make any sense. It’s biologically necessary so that we leave our tribe and go and make babies in a different tribe. A good thing that a parent can say at this point is to know and appreciate that everything they can say or do is going to be wrong, but to surround their children with good voices that might still help them in the right direction.

One of the great challenges this year is that there aren’t particularly good influences for Maggie to lean on, so it’s continuing to be there for your child and learning what it’s to parent. I mean, it makes me so sad. But it ensures biodiversity is the upshot, so go for it.

Screen Rant: Gaius, how will Perlie’s interactions with Negan in season 2 give us insight into the facets of Negan’s personality that the original characters may know, but your character isn’t familiar with yet?

Gaius Charles: I don’t think I really have an interaction with him until deep into the season, so for me, it’s more so about figuring out how all the pieces fit together with the Maggie-Negan storyline, what that all means, and what the consequences are of that. It’s just another layer to have to deal with as we work toward figuring out this whole empire-building thing and what people will see in terms of what we’re chasing after — #methane.

It shines; the light bulb goes off for me. But at the same time, it just intensifies the storyline. It intensifies the need of getting the methane and all that kind of stuff. There is a war coming.

Scott Gimple & Dead City Cast Tease Kim Coates’ Grand Entrance To The World Of The Walking Dead

“He interrogates everything, and then just lives so fully.”

Screen Rant: Scott, Kim Coates is incredible, and I feel like he’s somebody who should have been on The Walking Dead prior.

Scott Gimple: I think Robert might’ve even mentioned him early for something. I know it isn’t the first time we floated his name in a Walking Dead context text. I mean, he’s bigger than life. He’s amazing on screen. The stories I hear from set are that he always surprises you.

Lauren Cohan: He’s a gift. Kim does what you always want to do on set, which is, “Why are we saying this? What is it? Let me dissect the hell out of it…” And then, “Great, yes, let’s go.” He is an absolute dream to work with. He interrogates everything, and then just lives so fully.

Screen Rant: We know his character’s name is Bruegel, and he’s the leader of one of the fiercest groups in New York. Can you tell us a little more about the character outside of that?

Scott Gimple: Oh, boy. I mean, he’s hilarious. He’s powerful. He’s capricious. He’s scary. He has some amazing scenes with Gaius.

Gaius Charles: He brings a lot of levity to the story. Yeah, dangerous levity. I was thinking dark irony because I binge-watched the whole original show in the last couple years, and I loved it even more seeing it [like that]. But what I think makes our show special, especially this season, is that you get to see that levity and people calling each other on each other’s BS. It’s all just those nods and those wings — and Kim, of course, brings it. .

Scott Gimple: And he’s totally his own thing. He’s a heavy. He’s a villain, but he’s so unusual. There’s no one else like him.

Lauren Cohan Expands On The Satisfaction She Finds In The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 – In Front Of The Camera & Behind It

“You bring somebody else to the table to start inspecting, and then you realize there’s this whole domain you haven’t looked at yet.”

Screen Rant: Lauren, you’ve described season 2 as one of the most satisfying seasons of television you’ve ever been a part of. Can you give us a glimpse into what makes Maggie’s journey so compelling this time around?

Lauren Cohan: Yeah, I think it’s a lot to do with this tension between Negan and I, both at a distance and when we’re close to each other, that is just something you kind of always hope for in your partnership and in the show or the story. We sort of unpack the characters in new ways this year that sets us up to continue the story if we are lucky enough to do another season.

It’s like you bring somebody else to the table to start inspecting, and then you realize there’s this whole domain you haven’t looked at yet. You realize the story can keep going. I’m just excited for the immersion.

Screen Rant: You make your directorial debut with the antepenultimate episode this season. Can you share how stepping behind the camera influenced your approach to Maggie as a character, and the collaboration with the cast, especially considering the charged nature of this season?

Lauren Cohan: Yeah, that’s a great question. I think the thing that really helped with directing [is that] I’ve been shadowing for a long time, and as soon as I started shadowing, it made me a better actor. And the most fun part of directing is collaborating with department heads and having these sacred conversations with the other actors during scenes or interactions that Maggie wouldn’t necessarily have been a part of.

It was so unique to me because my skillset as an actor was in some ways so much more applicable than I expected it to be. Directing is a huge job, and there’s so much to prepare for and so much to consider, and there’s a clock in the back of your mind that luckily other people are helping to keep track of. But there’s the quiet cue of acting that is so magical, and that’s possible in directing too. I just realized that it’s just about one piece at a time.

My favorite part of everything was [thinking], “In this moment, what matters is my conversation with Gaius about this moment for the character.” We go into this little silo and, at every juncture, there are so many opportunities for that. It’s all just a collection of quiet moments if you keep going and you just breeze through.

More About The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2

The Walking Dead: Dead City follows fan-favorite characters Maggie (Cohan) and Negan (Morgan) as they travel into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror. In season two, in the growing war for control of Manhattan, Maggie and Negan find themselves trapped on opposite sides. As their paths intertwine, they come to see that the way out for both is more complicated and harrowing than they ever imagined.

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 is expected to premiere in the Spring of 2025.