The walking dead season 11 total episodes

The Walking Deadspoilers follow.

It's been a long ol' road but the OG series of The Walking Dead is coming to an end with an all-guns-blazing final instalment of season 11.

You can't say they haven't made the most of the time they had left. We haven't even started on the multiple spinoffs (Isle of the Deadand Tales of the Walking Dead are the latest new additions.)

So when are the episodes happening? Here's everything you need to know about the finale.

The Walking Dead season 11 part 3 release date: When will it air?

AMC

The season 11 trilogy kicked off in August 2021 with part one, and part two launched on February 20, 2022.

Season three has now been confirmed to start on October 2, 2022. The finale is set to air Stateside November 20, and will be simulcast in the early hours in the UK.

It will then play through to the final showdown.

Related: The Walking Dead – the behind-the-scenes drama you probably don't know about

New episodes drop on Sunday nights on AMC in the US, before becoming available on STAR on Disney+ in the UK the following Monday. The Walking Dead season 11 will have 24 episodes in total.

The Walking Dead season 11 part 3 cast: Who's in it?

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The regular faces of Alexandria, Oceanside and Hilltop will all be back in action for the final season as they face their biggest battle in this zombie-filled way of life.

The main players include: Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos), Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam), Magna (Nadia Hilker), Lydia (Cassady McClincy), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) and Mercer (Michael James Shaw).

Then we have ruler Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) who we'll get on to in a minute.

After an extended absence, Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie is now also back in the fold. Cohan described the news of her return as "completely surreal" at New York Comic Con (via The Hollywood Reporter).

"It feels just like home. It feels so emotional. It feels really, really emotional. I feel like this is a very special Comic Con and a very special family, and I'm really happy to be here."

Though naturally Maggie's changed in the time since she's been away, and there was some heat to deal with considering reformed cold-blooded murderer Negan is now a central member of the gang.

Which, seeing as he brutally murdered her love Glen in front of her in a very, very gruesome and graphic fashion, isn't going to be easy for Maggie to just get over.

They've got some serious making up to do considering they are working together in spinoff Isle of the Dead, and it starts here.

Speaking of the final episode, Eleanor Matsuura, who plays Yumiko, opened up to us about what it was like seeing the show come to an end.

"I hope that they feel like it's a satisfying ending," she told Digital Spy. "I think they'll be satisfied with Yumiko's ending. I do believe that. I think fans of Yumiko will be really happy where she ends up.

"I do think for the show as a whole, yes it's a massive chapter closing, but as you said, there are so many other doors that we already know that are open, with all the spinoffs that are happening. I sort of feel like this is an ending for The Walking Dead, maybe, but also it's a kind of launchpad to all the other spinoffs that are happening.

"Even if it doesn't satisfy everybody, I feel like they would be... in the long game they'll be pleased, you know? Because the payoff will come later in a different spinoff. That's the only way I can put it. Sorry if that's too cryptic."

The Walking Dead season 11 part 3 spoilers: What will happen?

AMC

At the end of part B, things were not looking good for a lot of people. Lance Hornsby had developed a monopoly of control over the three main survivor sites of Alexandria, Hilltop and now Oceanside... with what he was planning to do with said control a bit of a mystery.

Part of the Commonwealth, it's uncertain whether he was going maverick on Governor Milton, or if he's working under their orders... we'll find out soon enough. Either way, Maggie, Daryl, Aaron and Gabriel are on their hit-list after causing trouble for the powerful group of humans.

AMC

There are lots of cliffhangers to be resolved in the last third of the final season, with Judith and Gracie trapped in a flooding basement and Carol, Aaron and Connie caught in a storm.

Writer Angela Kang had to revise plans for part of season 11 thanks to COVID-19 restrictions, as she explained to Insider in October.

"We had a whole different kind of episode planned for episode eight, and we had to get really realistic about what we could actually accomplish in the storyline," she said. "So it's just been a lot of series of decisions like that, which hopefully are relatively invisible to the audience if they don't know behind-the-scenes.

"It's definitely been different for us. We have to strategize differently. We have to use locations differently to hide our limitations... It is for good reason and so we just, we roll with it, you know, because safety is more important."

Kang also revealed what people should expect in the final episodes of season 11, saying: "There's going to be just some twists and turns and reveals and we always try to keep it scary, too. Hopefully, all of that's there for everyone as we keep on building towards an ending."

Kang added: "What I'll say is, there are characters such as Daryl that find themselves in situations that are so different in some ways than ones they've been in before."

"So they're trying to navigate them in ways that can sometimes be uncomfortable for their characters, because they feel like they knew how the world worked, or what their place was in their group, and they're having to kind of expand beyond their circle.

"I think in a general sense, that's kind of what a lot of our characters, in different ways, are dealing with. And then, of course, there's scares and all the usual fun stuff that we get to do in our show."

Whatever happens in the final episodes, there's a major tonal shift taking place throughout the second half of the season.

"We did the first ten episodes kind of in one direction, and that involved Maggie's story mostly, and us trying to deal with what's going on with that as a group. And then all of a sudden, we did a one-eighty, and now it's kind of like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory all of a sudden," Norman Reedus said (via ComicBook).

Related: The Walking Dead timeline: Here's how to watch The Walking Dead universe in chronological order

"We're all doing The Exorcist right now, all of our heads are spinning in a circle. Yeah, we're all Linda Blair right now. I mean, things go from a black and white western to a technicolor Willy Wonka film like that, and it's crazy.

"[Daryl is] protecting the kids a lot, to be honest, and...he's protecting Maggie a lot," he added. "Maggie's going through a big thing at the beginning of this season, he kind of takes it upon himself to keep an eye on her and be part of that journey."

According to the actor, Daryl's story "turns into a larger fight, which turns into something completely different. But I think he's taking care of people and he's protecting people, but he's also with everybody else kind of protecting [their home]."

The Walking Dead season 11 part 3 trailer: When can I watch?

The final episodes trailer dropped at San Diego Comic-Con and is tellingly titled 'Finish the Fight'. This also confirmed the show's return date.

But the biggest reveal from the new footage is that so-called 'smart zombies' – first seen in a post-credits sequence in The Walking Dead: World Beyond – have made it from Europe to the Deep South.

How smart are these zombies, do you ask? Well, they are capable of opening doors and climbing walls for starters, so this cannot be good for Daryl, Carol, Ezekiel, Maggie, Negan and their allies!

The Walking Dead spinoffs: What's happening?

Gene Page/AMC

Like The Walking Dead, just because things are ending doesn't mean that they're going to go down without a fight.

This series isn't just a one-off show, it's a whole universe, with The Walking Dead: World Beyond andFear the Walking Deadalready in existence, and the long-standing promise of a Rick Grimes movie with Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) coming back.

"We're going to be telling stories with Michonne again," Gimple told Colliderin October 2020. "The end of her on the series was, in many ways, the start of the story.

"Movies take a little longer and we're playing with it in all sorts of directions," added Gimple. "And then the pandemic happened, which gave us the opportunity or the necessity to do that.

"We're still doing that. Andy [Andrew Lincoln] is super involved. [Creator Robert Kirkman] is super involved. It really is proceeding. It's just that current circumstances have given us a little extra time that we seem to need anyways. We really want to do it right."

Jackson Lee DavisAMC

Plus, Gimple and AMC are working on another anthology spinoff series, Tales of the Walking Dead, which will premiere later in 2022. The six-episode series will revolve around a different actor/scenario in each instalment.

In April 2022, it was confirmed that the show will feature the return of Alpha, Samantha Morton's iconic seasons nine and ten villain. The news was welcomed by fans, and – presumably – by Morton, who had a blast shooting the series.

"We just achieved such amazing stuff. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the work we did together blew my mind. Melissa and I, some of the work that we had to do in the series and everybody – Cassidy, and Ryan, and Norman – and I just love everybody so much. Even actors I didn't get to do anything with, you just become family. I just was like, 'Oh, I'm going to miss you all so much.' It was the best job ever," Morton said when she left the series (via EW).

Alpha's arc in the main show had a pretty definitive conclusion (spoiler: she deeead), so the episode will be a flashback. But, considering the fact that some of The Walking Dead's greatest moments came in flashback form (with the Morgan-centric 'Here's Not Here' being the possible highlight of the series as a whole), that's actually great news.

Previously-announced Tales of the Walking Dead cast members include Anthony Edwards, Jillian Bell, Terry Crews, Daniella Pineda, Parker Posey, and Poppy Liu. Whether this series will tie in some way to the back end of The Walking Dead season 11 part three is yet to be seen – but with the eight episodes already doing a lot of heavy lifting (they have to resolve the Commonwealth arc, the show as a whole AND set up half of these spinoffs), we'd say it's unlikely.

"This series, more than any other in The Walking Dead universe, runs on new voices, perspectives, and ideas — bringing to life stories unlike any we've told before," said Gimple.

AMC

But the one fans seem most excited to see is the as-yet-untitled spinoff focusing on Norman Reedus as Daryl.

Originally, a Carol and Daryl spinoff was in the works, but actress Melissa McBride officially announced that she was stepping down ahead of production. The series is shooting this year in Europe, where the story will be set, which proved to be "logistically untenable" for McBride.

Parting ways amicably, an AMC spokesperson paid tribute to her role as Carol in a statement which read: "Melissa McBride has given life to one of the most interesting, real, human and popular characters in The Walking Dead universe."

Since then it's been confirmed the story will be tweaked to focus just on Daryl on a solo adventure.

In June, Reedus teased what was happening with the show, and said: "The spinoff will look totally different from [The Walking Dead]. It'll be completely different. And to be honest, you wouldn't wanna do this show as a spinoff exactly the same by yourself, it's terrifying."

But the news came as a shock to diehard fans who directed their frustrations towards Reedus via social media.

AMC took to Twitter to respond to the backlash Reedus received following her departure announcement, saying:

"We would like to acknowledge the response to this week's news related to the previously announced Daryl and Carol TWD spinoff. Norman Reedus is being unfairly targeted and attacked in social media for a decision he had no part in.

"Melissa McBride decided she could not participate in the series because relocating to Europe became logistically untenable for her. It is inappropriate to direct negativity and anger at another cast member for a disappointing outcome he had nothing to do with.

"Carol is a beloved and vital character and we are working to find a way for fans to again follow her story, as only Melissa could give life to, in the expanding universe around The Walking Dead. The fans have always been the driving force behind #TWDFamily and always will be."

Fellow castmate Morgan was also quick to jump to the actor's defence in a tweet which read: "Some of you have gone WAY too far. TOXIC. Attacking Norm for crap he has NOTHING to do with? Melissa made a call that was hers alone. She wants/needs a break. Respect that. [There are] factors involved that are nobody's business. Norm, who's given more than anyone to you all. Just SHITTY."

Finally, in March 2022, yet another spinoff was announced – this time Isle of the Dead, focusing on Maggie and Negan.

"It not only adds another compelling series to this collection, it extends our storytelling around two unforgettable characters fans have grown to love, hate or hate and then love in Maggie and Negan, brilliantly inhabited by Lauren and Jeffrey," said Dan McDermott, the President of Entertainment and AMC Studios for the AMC Networks.

"It also lets us explore a corner of this universe located on the island of Manhattan, with an iconic skyline that takes on a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of a zombie apocalypse."

The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US. UK viewers can catch up on the show on STAR on Disney+.

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