DEAD HEAD

The Walking Dead franchise’s big boss, Scott M. Gimple, on everything from the upcoming Rick Grimes films to the episode he keeps rewatching

- EMILY ASLANIAN

WANT TO HEAR some Walking Dead universe secrets? Well, chief content officer Scott M. Gimple—who knows all after being promoted in 2018 from TWD showrunner to overseer of the franchise—isn’t giving anything away! But during his tenure, the 50-year-old New Jersey native has made some big announcements: the YA limited series The Walking Dead: World Beyond (which joined the flagship and Fear the Walking Dead in 2020), two more series in development plus a set of feature-length films. “I’m trying to tie it all together—be a helpful Sherpa,” Gimple says. “[My job is] helping the showrunners tell their stories in their voice. I didn’t have that as much [while running TWD], and I like being there for them.” He was especially there for those creative talents—Dead’s Angela Kang, Fear’s Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss and Beyond’s Matt Negrete—this winter, when all three series were in production concurrently for the first time ever following pandemic delays. Here, Gimple gets (at least a tiny bit) candid.

The final season of Dead