If you can have a dozen Law & Orders, CSIs and NCISs, it shouldn't come as a surprise that The Walking Dead, perhaps the most buzz-worthy show on TV, would spawn a spinoff. AMC moved a step closer to that reality this past week when it gave the green light to a pilot episode of a new, as yet untitled series set in the Walking Dead universe.

Although the show will take place in the same zombie apocalypse, it will feature an entirely new cast of characters in a different location (thus, for some semantic reason, it's not technically a "spinoff," according to Entertainment Weekly).

Personally, I'd think a smart approach would be to set it somewhere that would visually set it apart from The Walking Dead -- say, a cold climate or a setting that's mountainous or coastal or desert-like or urban -- at the risk of giving birth to TWD: New York, TWD: Los Angeles, TWD: Miami and so on.

Production will begin by the end of the year, but there's no word yet on when the show would air if the pilot goes well (and how could it not, given Walking Dead executive producers Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert are all on board?). You have to wonder if the show creators would want to avoid running the two series at the same time of the year to prevent oversaturation. I, for one, would welcome year-round Walking Dead: say, October - March for the original series and then April - September for the spinoff. Until that happens, you can at least catch Season 5 of The Walking Dead starting October 12.

Source: Entertainment Weekly