After over 15 years of watching The Walking Dead TV universe, fans have learned what to expect from the overall flow of each season. There are twists and turns, real death and fake-out death, and there’s always some unexpected uses for zombies. The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 continues playing the hits but does so in a way that keeps you entertained and interested in what comes next.
The elephant sized baseball bat in the room.
There is an obvious conflict that lingers over this spinoff: Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) murder of Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) husband in an extremely brutal fashion. The first two seasons of Dead City explored this palpable tension by continuously putting these two in the same room and waiting for the inevitable fight. The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 begins in the aftermath of Season 2’s example – Maggie literally stabbing Negan in the back. But after that, this season is like a new beginning for these characters.
Throughout The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 Maggie and Negan figure out how to integrate with a new group of survivors who seems to have a stable looking setup in the heart of Manhattan. Maggie is drawn to the leader of the group and offers her experience from leading the Hilltop community back in the original series. Meanwhile, Negan finds himself a new friend in Dillard (Jimmi Simpson), a delusional and lonely former cop who takes over an abandoned bar and makes friends with the dead. This change in focus creates some space for Maggie and Negan, allowing them to gradually shift their tumultuous relationship into something almost friendly.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 features a surprising new character.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan are finally comfortable in their respective character dynamics and are able to explore their true motivations. Cohan makes the conflict and hesitation in Maggie when faced with a leadership role once again palpable. At the same time, Morgan’s Negan completely lets go and slumps into lazy drunkenness with Dillard; reverting into who he was in the early days of the apocalypse.
The true standout of the season is Jimmi Simpson’s Dillard. What could be a throw away character meant to be killed off in two episodes slowly turns into a fascinating and surprisingly complex part. Dillard begins as a seemingly lonely guy with some baggage who bonds with Negan – who is by definition also a lonely guy with some baggage. The relationship goes south when the destructive sides of both men come to light and Negan realizes just how far gone Dillard has been this whole time, and changing the tone of The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3.
Remixing comfortable plot threads.
While the story of The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 retreads an idea that the franchise many times, it is a refreshing and different take. Two survivors find Maggie, Negan and Hershel and bring them to their home and they all realize there is an opportunity to create a haven for themselves and other survivors. Once they open their doors to random survivors, the cracks in their plan begin to show and tensions rise as they always do.
What this season does differently is focusing less on the brewing situation and the risk of losing a new home and more on the characters themselves. This is exemplified in a “what if” episode that explores Maggie and Negan interacting in a timeline where the apocalypse never happens. This focus on characters beyond their conflicts may not be every fan’s cup of tea; especially compared to the previous two seasons. However, it brings a much-appreciated change of tone that this series needs. That said, it also opens the door to something that longtime fans of the franchise have been worried about since this spinoff was announced – Maggie letting go of her hatred of Negan.
Healing the divide
This season begins with Negan freshly stabbed by Maggie and Maggie telling him to stab her back to make up for it. The tension is still there, but this was a small hint of what was to come. The Maggie in the pilot was ready to kill Negan on the spot when she saw him, but after all they had been through with the Croat and the Dama in the last two seasons. Now, she offers to do something to make her actions feel “fair.”
Fast forward to the end of The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 and Maggie asks Negan to stay around and help her keep this new home safe. It comes after a season of working together, protecting each other in the shadows from potential threats, and Negan cashing in that back stab to save Maggie from Dillard. These two characters are as close to being friends as two people could be after one of them brutally murdered the other’s husband with a baseball bat in front of her. The idea of Maggie and Negan ever getting even remotely close is the topic of a lot of online discourse that even I don’t really know where I stand on; but this season sure wants to stoke that fire.
The bottom line.
As of now, it is not clear if there will be a fourth season of The Walking Dead: Dead City much less seasons beyond that. This season leaves off in a place that could move into more adventures for Maggie and Negan. It could also act as a good ending point with a “use your imagination” component on the future of Negan and Maggie’s new friendship.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 is overall an improvement from the previous two seasons. There is some standout performances from both new and returning cast members, a story that takes a familiar plot and gave it more depth, and a fresh and unique feeling from beginning to end. This series has finally found an identify that it can hopefully continue growing for another season.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 is available to stream now on AMC+.
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‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 3 - 7/10
7/10
From a young age, Tyler has been amazed by filmmaking and writing. When he’s not watching movies in theaters, he also enjoys playing video games and binging one of the numerous shows he’s watching at any given moment. Working with The Young Folks was a highlight of his writing career and he is looking forward to this new adventure with In Between Drafts!
