In the current season of Dead City, a spin-off of The Walking Dead featuring former enemies Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the antagonists fail to impress. These poorly developed characters pose little threat, with several defeated easily by the fifth episode, and others quickly written out of the storyline. The series seems to alternate between making villains either overly simplistic or swiftly turning them into allies, a pattern also noticeable in other extensions like Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live. This begs the question: After 15 years since TWD first aired, why keep expanding this universe without injecting any real stakes or novel threats?

Originally, TWD introduced Negan with a memorable and horrifying act—murdering two cherished characters with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. This set a clear and dangerous tone: Negan was not to be trifled with. However, by 2016, the series hadn’t yet devolved into the formulaic spin-off factory it is today, which allowed more in-depth exploration of Negan’s complex backstory. Nowadays, the narrative seems stuck in a loop, rehashing the same old villain plots that feel as outdated as the zombies themselves. For instance, season two of Dead City saw The Croat (Željko Ivanek)—a kidnapper of Maggie’s son—easily overpowered by Negan, and a marshal played by Dascha Polanco defeated in a laughably bad fight scene.

As for the zombies, they’ve been relegated to mere scenery. In the early days, the show thrived on the suspense and imminent danger posed by these creatures. Remember the gripping scene in the premiere when Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) had to shoot a child zombie? Or the tense moment in season two when the group encountered a horde on the highway? Those days are long gone. Now, the undead are little more than nuisances easily brushed aside, while the narrative focuses on the darker sides of human nature.

The spin-offs, despite being led by beloved original characters, fail to recapture the early series’ sense of dread. In Daryl Dixon, even with a change of scenery to Marseille, the villains Daryl faces offer nothing new—they’re just French-speaking versions of the same old threats.

The issue persists in The Ones Who Live, where Rick and Michonne’s reunion feels underwhelming against the backdrop of their struggle against the Civil Republic Military (CRM). The show quickly dismantles the CRM’s evil without much buildup, squandering the talents of Terry O’Quinn, who plays a CRM leader without much substance to his role.

Similarly, Dead City underutilizes its cast. Lisa Emery, memorable as a ruthless character in Ozark, barely scratches the surface of her potential as The Dama before her character is seemingly killed off. Kim Coates also appears as a forgettable villain whose defeat is all but assured. It’s evident that TWD universe has lost its knack for blending suspense with compelling character arcs, leaving us with a predictable and uninspiring narrative landscape.