The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Amazon Prime Video Review

A Walking Dead spinoff set 10 years after the very first outbreak isn't in theory a bad idea.

But in practice, The Walking Dead: World Beyond suffers from feeling way too tween and way too underdeveloped in its first two episodes.

For a series that's airing on AMC, and has the pedigree of the talent behind the camera involved that are, it has to be said The Walking Dead: World Beyond just doesn't feel like it leaps out of the gate in episode one.

Sure, it has a lot to do as it delves into a new mythology and follows the first generation raised in a surviving civilisation that's all too familiar to watchers of Rick Grimes et al.

However, what emerges is a large feeling of deja vu in the first two episodes of the ten episode season.

By centring on two sisters and by promising only a two season run, there's a feeling that story is everything and pace will be vital to keeping this fresh. Unfortunately, what transpires in only two episodes is a weaker attempt at mystery and a definite feeling of too much young adult frustrations.

Alexa Mansour and Aliyah Royale star as the sisters Hope and Iris, who are worried about their father who is away from home and working for the shadowy Civic Republic. Headed up by Julia Ormond, there's a division between the sisters who are split - one between loyalty for the republic on Monument Day (Iris) and one (Hope) who wholeheartedly mistrusts them.

As the tenth anniversary begins of the pandemic (the Monument Day and a meta acknowledgement that the Deadverse has been going for a decade), Iris receives a message from her father saying his safety cannot be guaranteed.....

So, deciding to strike out and find him, Hope and Iris find their conflicted beliefs coming to the fore - and their inability to navigate the new world.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond has some potential.

With its double entendre title implying both the teens can find a whole new world outside of what they've known and that the Deadverse is bigger than ever suspected, there's a chance to expand the scope and utilise the knowledge everyone has of the universe without alienating newcomers.

Unfortunately, what transpires is a feeling of general indifference thanks to some fairly rote characters, some ineffective moments of tension and a general lack of life in the pilot episode alone. Episode two offers some potential with a sequence seeing the group having to avoid a horde of zombies trying to provide some uncertainty. 

Sure, there's kismet given Covid-19, and teens growing up in a world that's only ever seen a pandemic feeling like a horrible coincidence, but there's not enough done with the writing and the characters to give the show the bite it needs.

But it's not a great thing that you're left feeling uninterested if any of the characters don't make it (and in some cases, you're willing them to be zombie fodder before it's really even got going). There's not enough unpredictability in a new iteration of a show that's become too scared to kill off regular cast members and occasionally shuffles through deadly dull episodes.

If there were more chances taken and if there was a stronger core cast that were better written characters rather than cyphers for dialogue and the quest to find the father, then The Walking Dead: World Beyond would have a case for living.

Because based on the two episodes provided for reviewing, it would be kinder to put this corpse of a show down now, rather than sacrificing everything great the franchise has created.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond airs every Friday on Amazon Prime. Episodes one and two were provided for the purposes of this review.