THE NEXT GENERATION

The new Walking Dead: World Beyond spinoff introduces four sheltered Nebraska teens and the high-tech, highly suspect Civic Republic Military

- EMILY ASLANIAN

SCHOOLWORK. BFFS. REBELLION. AMC’s latest Walking Dead spinoff is a coming-of-age tale à la the ’80s flick Stand by Me—except for those “empties” (local lingo for walkers) who want to eat human flesh. World Beyond takes a different approach than its zombie-universe predecessors by focusing on a group of teenagers. Safely sequestered in a fully functional Midwestern community since the outbreak a decade earlier, they venture out beyond the walls on a perilous post-apocalyptic mission.

Unlike the Fear the Walking Dead spinoff, which opened at the crisis’ onset, this new entry is set in roughly the same timeline as the flagship—still cable’s most-watched series, with more than 3 million viewers. At