The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season One (2020) Review
The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season One (2020) Review
Cultural phenomenon The Walking Dead expands its scope with a next-generation spin-off World Beyond, a new series exploring the lives of four teenagers raised in a post-apocalyptic world. The Walking Dead: World Beyond arrives on Blu-ray, DVD and digital 11 October 2021, courtesy of Acorn Media International.
Set in Nebraska, 10 years after the zombie apocalypse, smart high school student Iris Bennett (Aliyah Royale – The Red Line, War Paint), and her rebellious adopted sister Hope (Alexa Mansour – Unfriended: Dark Wed, Loco Love), are forced to set off on a dangerous journey, along with two friends, the intellectual Elton Ortiz (Nicolas Cantu – The Good Place, The Powerpuff Girls) and a shy transfer student with a mysterious, violent past, Silas Plaskett (Hal Cumpston – Bilched, Nine Perfect Strangers).
Leaving the safety and comfort of home to brave dangers, known and unknown, living and undead on an important quest, the teens are pursued by both those who wish to protect them and those who wish to harm them including Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, My Week with Marilyn). A coming-of-age story unfurls across dangerous terrain, challenging everything they know about the world, themselves and each other. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. But will they find the truths they seek in the World Beyond?
Prior to being sent WORLD BEYOND to review I have to confess that I’ve only ever watched one episode of the original WALKING DEAD TV series and I found it both generic and dull (sorry WALKING DEAD fans). Nonetheless I sat down to watch this spin-off with an open-mind and a willingness to engage. It’s basically a coming-of-age story with zombies that sadly lacks any dynamic tension. Much like it’s undead co-stars it’s rather lifeless.
There’s ten episodes that lead into a second and final season, which at the time of writing is currently being televised, but it’s all very dialogue-heavy and not much else. I’m all for dialogue scenes if they have any substance to them, here though they feel devoid of any wallop, coming across instead as bland adding up to being nothing else but a needless cash-in that adds nothing overall.
Maybe it plays better for the younger demographic it is aimed at, however given that most of them have the attention span of a gnat, it’s unlikely. You know something is wrong when a zombie-based TV program manages to barely raises the pulse when there’s imminent zombie peril. You never really feel that the youngsters are ever in any real danger and consequently it all becomes a bit of a bore.
