New ‘The Walking Dead’ Series Will Be Directed By ‘Kong: Skull Island’s Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the director of 2017’sKong: Skull Island, is stepping into another existing universe. He’ll direct AMC’s thirdWalking Deadseries, the untitled spin-off which will follow members of a separate civilization which survived the zombie apocalypse – specifically, agroup of young people who grew up in the relative safety of a walled community. Read on for more information about the upcoming spin-off, including its newly-announced star.Deadlinereports thatJordan Vogt-Robertswill be behind the camera directing this new show, which was co-created byScott M. Gimple(the overseer of the entireWalking Deaduniverse) andThe Walking Deadwriter/producerMatt Negrete, who’s on board as this new series’ showrunner.
Vogt-Roberts, who has also directed the excellent indie filmThe Kings of Summerand episodes ofYou’re the Worst, has been hoping to make aMetal Gear Solidfilm for years; we’ll have to continue to patiently wait and see if that project ever actually materializes. In the meantime, it sounds like he’ll be a good fit for this show with his experience in both compelling character drama and heightened genre settings.
Meanwhile, Deadline also reports that actorNico Tortorella(Younger) has been cast to star in this new show. Tortorella is a model/author/actor who identifies as gender non-binary, and they’ll be playing a character named Felix, “an honorable man of his word who isn’t afraid to fight for others' safety and acceptance.” Deadline says this casting won’t affect Tortorella’s ability to continue starring onYounger, so fans of that show can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Tortorella’s character Josh is not leaving any time soon. Tortorella joins the previously-castAlex Mansour(Hope),Nicolas Cantu(Elton),Hal Cumpston(Silas),Annet Mahendru(Huck), andAliyah Royale(Iris) as part of the group of young people who venture beyond the walls of their home community and go on a dangerous quest – one that results in some of them becoming heroes, and others becoming villains.
A teaser trailer for this upcoming seriespremiered a little over a week ago, but it’s still so early in the process that it’s largely comprised of concept art images and talking heads. WhileThe Walking DeadandFear the Walking Deadhave grown pretty stale in recent years, AMC isn’t letting this brand die easily – this is just one of many new shows the network is planning set in this universe, not to mention the movie about Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes that’scoming to theaters.
