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'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' Episode 1 Preview: Will the spinoff reveal how the original series ended?

The show, set at least 5 years after the end of 'The Walking Dead', may contain clues

While the world is still reeling from the long-awaited Season 10 finale of 'The Walking Dead', the audience is being treated to all-new content from AMC with 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond', a flash-forward of sorts to a series set 10 years after the apocalypse began. Given the five-year time jump of 'The Walking Dead', that puts the show about 3-5 years after the events of the original series' ending, meaning that the show may just be able to provide clues as to how Season 11 of 'The Walking Dead' will end.

The season finale of 'The Walking Dead' reveals the existence of the Commonwealth, a large city filled with survivors who have started to restore civilization. Given that they will be featured on the show's final season, it's uncertain as to whether or not the remaining survivors will have much of a lasting impact on the world through the Commonwealth, or whether they'll be lost within the largeness of the city — or worse, killed in a confrontation with it, given that the survivors are in a much weaker position than their comic-book counterparts.

In the comics, the final issue of 'The Walking Dead' flashed forward enough decades for Carl to have reached adulthood, and shows a world where civilization has been restored and the walker threat is all but ended. Rick Grimes has been immortalized as the man who brought civilization back during humanity's darkest moments. 'World Beyond' is set far enough into the future to determine whether or not the survivors have made any lasting impact, or left any legacy behind. While characters from the original series may not show up on 'World Beyond', or even be heavily namedropped, for them to not be mentioned at all may just imply that whatever legacy they left behind after Season 11 might not be nearly as enduring as the one left behind in the comics. 

'World Beyond' is an all-new chapter of 'The Walking Dead', one that goes farther into the future than any other story in the franchise has. While it may not reveal major details for the original series or for 'Fear the Walking Dead', there still may be enough clues to determine what we can expect for how both series will end — if only by omission.

'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' airs at 10 PM ET on AMC, immediately following the season finale of 'The Walking Dead' Season 10.