THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND ** USA 2020 Creators: Scott M. Gimple & Matthew Negrete. Writers: Scott M. Gimple, Matthew Negrete, Ben Sokolowski, The Farahanis, Sinead Daly, Rohit Kumar, Maya Goldsmith, Eddie Guzelian, Elizabeth Padden. Dir: Magnus Martens, Sharat Raju, Rachel Leiterman, Dan Liu, Michael Cudlitz, Loren Yaconelli, Sydney Freeland. Duration:- Series 1: 10 episodes (approx. 42 mins per episode)
WORLD BEYOND is another spin off of THE WALKING DEAD (2010) universe. We have already had the highly successful FEAR THE WALKING DEAD (2015) set at the start of the zombie virus as the original series but in a different part of America which has since sprawled out and incorporated characters from THE WALKING DEAD. WORLD BEYOND is set 10 years after the initial outbreak and based in settlements, strongholds and communities that have developed and are holding out against the undead. Inside these communities life is trying to get back to normal. WORLD BEYOND focuses on a group of teenagers who were just small kids when the zombie plague first hit. Sisters Hope (Alexa Mansour) and Iris Bennett (Aliyah Royale) are waiting for news of their father who was sent on a top secret mission to another community and the sisters have not heard from him since he left. Iris is an overachiever and Hope is the angsty moody one but together they decide that something is wrong and they have to go out into the undead infested wilderness to find their father. With them they take Elton (Nicholas Cantu) a small nervous kid that needs to prove himself and Silas (Hal Cumpton) the quiet guy with anger issues, what could go wrong?? Charged with keeping an eye on the girls whilst their father is away is soldier Felix (Nico Tortorella). He and Huck (Annet Mahendru) are the ones that go after the group to help protect them from the “empties” as they are called in this.
WORLD BEYOND is kind of a “coming of age in a zombie apocalypse” type thing which will not be for everyone. The characters have been thought out and developed to have a range of different personalities but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a bunch of annoying, hormonal teenagers that have grown up during the zombie apocalypse yet don’t seem to have a clue what to do when it comes to fighting the undead. I’m guessing that’s the point of the show; these kids have been sheltered and protected ever since the virus hit and whilst, when very young they saw their loved ones die they have not been allowed outside the walls of their community or taught any survival skills. Which seems a bit weird to me. To start with the teenagers are quite annoying (especially to someone that left her teens behind a loooong time ago!) but you do end up warming up to them when you discover that the adult characters are written even worse than them. As the series progresses you find that the so called grown ups here have very weak back stories and their acting is questionable.
One of the good things about WORLD BEYOND being a spin off of THE WALKING DEAD are the walkers, I mean empties … oh hell, zombies!! Although Greg Nicotero is not directly involved with WORLD BEYOND he obviously still had some input into the way the empties look and behave. As it is 10 years on they are very decomposed and most barely resemble human beings anymore so they can really have fun with it. The one they turned into a bee hive was particularly impressive they also have them intertwined with trees, completely mummified or so burned up they are unrecognisable. It’s not particularly gory but they do look really good and they keep the CGI to a minimum. The empties presence is lacking to start off with being nothing but flashbacks or dream sequences but it does pick up and they certainly become something to look forward to when the story and acting goes downhill. With WORLD BEYOND though they have tried to rein things back a bit by having 10 episodes per season rather than the 20 plus you get with the others. Hopefully it will stay that way as even 10 episodes seems like a bit of a stretch at times, season one however does end on a significant cliffhanger which leaves things open for season two to progress the story.
I wasn’t completely disappointed with the first season of THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND it had some good moments and once it got going it holds promise for future seasons but I cant help wondering if we really needed this. I am a huge fan of the original series having watched it from day one but even that has been a bit iffy over the years and I don’t think that numerous spin off series is the way to keep our attention. There are only so many scenarios that can play out over a prolonged period of time when it comes to zombie series and I think it’s safe to say that these have all been covered over and over again within this universe already. It’s hard to know just where they are going and what they want to achieve with this series. Long time fans are getting tired of this format and for WORLD BEYOND to really stand out from crowd they really need to think more on the storylines and get themselves some decent actors.
Review by Sarah Budd
THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND (SEASON ONE) is available on Amazon