The Walking Dead Showrunner Teases the Return of 'Smart' Walkers

Discussing a trailer for Part 3 of Season 11 of The Walking Dead, executive producer and showrunner Angela Kang hinted at the return of Season 1's "smart walkers."

According to ComicBook.com, Kang went in-depth on the new episodes during a San Diego Comic-Con press conference, teasing the presence of more intelligent zombies. "In some ways," she said, "it is a throwback to some of the walkers we saw back in the very, very first season of The Walking Dead. But not everybody ever encountered those walkers."

Kang continued: "Our survivors need to be very, very smart and try to adjust to that, and that is one of the many conflicts that they will be dealing with in the final block of episodes."

The smart walkers appeared first in Season 1 of The Walking Dead, which is based on the comic book series created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and premiered in October 2010. In general, the show's walkers were characterized as more intelligent zombies, but they got slower as the seasons progressed.

Part 3 of The Walking Dead Season 11, which returns to AMC in October, will follow the trials and tribulations of survivors in Alexandria and Hilltop. In 2020, AMC announced that it will also be the final season of The Walking Dead.

But the end of the flagship series won't mean the end of The Walking Dead universe. "We have a lot of thrilling story left to tell on TWD," AMC said recently. "And then, this end will be a beginning of more Walking Dead – brand new stories and characters, familiar faces and places, new voices, and new mythologies. This will be a grand finale that will lead to new premieres."

Indeed, there are already multiple spinoffs in the works, including the anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead, which is set to premiere on AMC in summer 2022. Season 1 will feature six episodes, each of which focuses on a different character. The cast includes Top Gun's Anthony Edwards, Dazed and Confused's Parker Posey, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Terry Crews, The Predator's Olivia Munn, Jurassic World Dominion's Daniella Pinedad, Top Gun: Maverick's Danny Ramirez, and The Boys' Jessie T. Usher.

Part 3 of Season 11 of The Walking Dead premieres Oct. 2 on AMC.