The Walking Dead: Dead City featuring Maggie and Negan gets premiere date and new teaser trailer

While fans of The Walking Dead have been mourning the loss of the hit post-apocalyptic horror series in recent months, writers and producers have been hard at work on the three new spin-offs for AMC.

On Saturday, the network gave fans a taste of The Walking Dead: Dead City by releasing a teaser trailer showcasing original show favorites Lauren Cohan, 41, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, 56, who reprise their roles as Maggie Greene and Negan.

Network reps also announced the show, which was originally set to drop in the spring, will now premiere on Sunday, June 18, at 10pm ET on AMC and AMC+, according to Deadline.

After the pilot debuts, the remaining five episodes will move to the 9pm ET time slot.

After having served as a writer, producer and co-executive producer on the flagship TWD series over the course of its 11 season run, Eli Jorné now takes the reigns as showrunner for Dead City. 

First look: Fans are getting a taste of the new spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City in a new teaser trailer, and an official premiere date that’s been set for June 18

Following the end of The Walking Dead, which aired the finale episode November 22, 2022, Negan and Maggie lead the new cast as they travel into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan that’s been cut off from the mainland in search of Maggie’s kidnapped son, Hershel.

And with the zombie apocalypse still raging, the crumbling city is filled with ‘the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror.’

The unusual pairing of Maggie with Negan seems more than just unlikely, many fans would agree that’s it would be nearly impossible, when you consider the totalitarian, sociopathic leader of the Saviors brutally killed Maggie’s husband Glenn (Steve Yeun), in an incredibly tense and jaw-dropping moment of the show.

The Negan character had only just made his debut in the series in the season six finale episode titled, Last Day On Earth.

The violent murder of Glenn happened in the season seven premiere, The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be, just after the group was en route to Hilltop to get help for Maggie, who’s the eldest daughter of Hershel (Scott Wilson); both of which were introduced near the beginning of season two of TWD.

Along with the two TWD holdovers, Dead City also stars Gaius Charles, Željko Ivanek, Jonathan Higginbotham, Mahina Napoleon, Trey Santiago-Hudson, Charlie Soli and Michael Anthony, 

During a panel Cohan, 41, opened up about how the stunning team up between Negan and Maggie.

‘It’s interesting because we see a very unprocessed level of trauma that we know happened between Maggie and Negan. In Dead City, we really get a chance to [ask], “What is this? What does it take to move through it?”‘ the New Jersey native said, adding, ‘And more than anything, it’s a chance for us to be forced together on this mission. The tension and unmovable things are still very present.’

What’s at stake: Negan and Maggie lead the new cast as they travel into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan that’s been cut off from the mainland in search of Maggie’s kidnapped son, Hershel

Walkers descend on city: As the zombie apocalypse rages on, the crumbling city is filled with ‘the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror’

The cast: Along with the two TWD holdovers, Dead City also stars Gaius Charles, Željko Ivanek, Jonathan Higginbotham, Mahina Napoleon, Trey Santiago-Hudson, Charlie Soli and Michael Anthony

Violent introduction: Stanton’s Negan made his debut on TWD in the season six finale, where he would eventually alter Maggie’s life forever as the sociopathic leader of the Saviors

Fight for survival: Maggie will have to find a way to come to terms with her history with Negan if she’s going to survive Manhattan and find her son

The spin-off’s new showrunner shared about some of the elements that bring a fresh new perspective to the storytelling.

‘It’s The Walking Dead like we’ve never seen it before. We haven’t really lived in a city like this,’ Jorné revealed in a statement reported by Deadline. ‘It’s New York; there’s skyscrapers up to the sky and a million and a half walkers.’

He added, ‘And for characters like Maggie and Negan, who’ve been running through the woods for a long time, it’s just a whole new world that’s just extremely claustrophobic, scary, and also, as you’ll discover, has pockets of survivors, you’ll get to see all the strange new ways they live in the apocalypse, it’s definitely like nothing you’ve seen before.’

The other two new spin-offs involving characters from the original show are The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, starring Norman Redus as the titular character, and an untitled series featuring Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira).

Deadly history: Maggie and Negan had banged heads in the final seasons of TWD; now they team up for an adventure into a zombie-infested Manhattan

Coming: The Walking Dead: Dead City is set to premiere on AMC on Sunday, June 18, at 10pm ET on AMC and AMC+, and then move to the 9pm ET time slot for the remaining five episodes; Gaius Charles pictured with co-stars Cohan and Morgan in 2023