The Walking Dead TV franchise is growing once again with a new series starring familiar faces. AMC has greenlit Isle of the Dead, a spinoff of the main series starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Maggie and Negan, respectively.

The show will be set in Manhattan where Maggie and Negan will explore what’s left of New York City. It has been given a six-episode order and is set to debut in 2023. Longtime Walking Dead writer Eli Jorné is taking on the role of showrunner and the show will be overseen by TWD Universe content chief Scott M. Gimple. Cohan and Morgan will also serve as executive producers.

Maggie and Negan have one of The Walking Dead’s most complex relationships, which was heavily featured in the first part of the final season. Maggie was introduced to The Walking Dead in season two, quickly falling for the group’s likeable runner Glenn. Years later when the couple considered themselves to be married and Maggie was pregnant, Negan, arguably the series greatest villain, arrived on the scene at the end of season six. In the season seven premiere, the leader of the Saviors killed Glenn with his barbed wire wrapped bat in front of Maggie. Since Maggie returned in season ten to find that Negan was more or less a member of her old group, tensions have been high in the will-they-or-won’t-they-murder-each-other sense.

“This is a very big day for the expanding universe we are building around The Walking Dead,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “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. 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.”

“Eli has created a chaotic, beautiful, grimy madhouse of the dead for Negan, Maggie, and fans of the show eager to discover an unseen and insane world of the TWD Universe,” Gimple said. “Lauren and Jeffrey have always been fantastic collaborators and now, we bring that collaboration to the next level with a series that will take these characters to their limits with the world – and each other. All of us are thrilled to take you on an all new, all different TWD epic for the ages.”

Isle of the Dead will be the fifth TWD spinoff. The first of those, Fear the Walking Dead, has been renewed for a seventh season. Walking Dead: World Beyond wrapped its two-season run in December 2021. Tales of the Walking Dead, an anthology style series, will debut in the summer of 2022. Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride are set to star in an as-yet untitled series about Daryl and Carol, which is set to begin in 2023 after TWD wraps in late 2022.

The shows could have more company in the form of films. In 2018 when Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes left TWD it was announced that he would return for a trilogy of films. There hasn’t been any recent news on that front, however.

“I’m thrilled to partner with Dan McDermott and the team at AMC on the next chapter in The Walking Dead Universe,” Cohan said. “Maggie is very close to my heart and I’m excited to continue her journey against the iconic backdrop of New York City, alongside my friend and collaborator, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Eli Jorné has created something incredibly special and I cannot wait for the fans to see what we have in store for Maggie and Negan.”

“I’m delighted that Negan and Maggie’s journey continues. It’s been such a ride walking in Negan’s shoes, I’m beyond excited to continue his journey in New York City with Lauren,” Morgan said. “Walkers in an urban setting has always been such a cool image, but 5th Avenue, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty? The greatest city in the world?? The backdrop is amazing, but it’s the story that Eli Jorné cooked up that is even better. Buckle up folks, Isle of the Dead is going to reinvent the TWD Universe. Huge thank you to Dan McDermott, Scott Gimple and AMC for having us back for more… we simply can’t wait.”