‘The Walking Dead’ Universe is Like Juggling Chainsaws, According to Show Boss Scott M. Gimple
Scott M. Gimple is the Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe. As the creative mind behind several television series and movies, he likens his livelihood to “juggling chainsaws.” Here’s why.
Gimple is in charge of numerous properties from the world of ‘The Walking Dead’
Gimple is the architect laying the narrative structure for AMC’s The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and World Beyond. He is also working on launching two forthcoming series, Tales of the Walking Dead and an untitled spinoff that revolves around fan-favorite characters Daryl and Carol from the original Walking Dead show. Adding to his list of duties, Gimple is behind the much-awaited feature film trilogy that will revisit the narrative of The Walking Dead OG Rick Grimes.
Gimple explained how leading the charge in ‘The Walking Dead’ universe is like juggling chainsaws
The notoriously tight-lipped Gimple spoke with Looper to provide an update on The Walking Dead movie, among other projects. Although the creative head held back on plot details, he did provide insights into what it is like to work behind the scenes on such a high volume of dynamic content.
Luckily, the showrunners themselves are a huge source of support, and then there’s all of the other people I’m working with. But yeah, it’s crazy, and so many things shift. And then this year, everything shifted. The juggling act was like you were juggling those pins, and then they threw in a couple of chainsaws just to make it interesting.
It’s an incredible juggling act, but I will say, in my position, it’s extremely helpful to be dancing between all these things because you can see the connective tissue, and you can see those stories. Whether they go in and out of every show or some of the shows, whether it has to do with the movies or things we’re doing in the future, it is cool to be in the middle of it all.
Scott M. Gimple to Looper
‘Everything’s changing’ due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Walking Dead cast and crew recently began production on the six season 10 bonus episodes as teased by showrunner Angela Kang during a New York Comic-Con panel. Although the show typically shoots during the summer, she confirmed that the team delayed production until the fall due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Gimple explained to Looper that other plans for The Walking Dead Universe are also in flux due to the effects of the pandemic.
I think it’s probable not to see much crossover in these first movies — but, again, everything’s changing. And this is taking a lot longer now than we expected. I’m just talking from a COVID-19 point of view, this big chunk of time we didn’t anticipate.
I think Robert Kirkman said it best: We’re using this time to really go over it and really road test it and really consider all the different directions we’re going in. So, we’re still in the lab in some ways. We’ve done a lot of work on it, but we’re trying to perfect it at the moment.
Scott M. Gimple to Looper
Fans can catch The Walking Dead series on AMC and AMC+.
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