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TV SERIES REVIEW
Tales of the Walking Dead
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Genre: Drama, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic, Horror
Year Released: 2022, Acorn Media International Blu-ray
Runtime: 4h 25m
Director(s): Various
Writer(s): Scott M. Gimple, Channing Powell
Cast: Terry Crews, Olivia Munn, Parker Posey, Samantha Morton, Anthony Edwards, Jessie T. Usher, Daniella Pineda, Danny Ramirez, Jillian Bell, Poppy Liu
Where to Watch: available now on digital, DVD, and Blu-ray

RAVING REVIEW: TALES OF THE WALKING DEAD takes a franchise that has been running for over a decade and asks a simple question: what else can this world hold? Instead of tracking one group of survivors week after week, this anthology tells six self-contained stories set at different points after the outbreak, with distinct tones, locations, and a rotating cast of familiar and new faces. On paper, it’s exactly what this universe needed: permission to experiment. On screen, the result lands firmly in that middle category where ambition is undeniable, individual episodes stand out, but the season as a whole never quite becomes essential.

The biggest strength here is the format. The anthology structure allows the creatives to swing harder than the main series usually permits. One episode plays like a road-trip character piece about a lonely prepper and a free-spirited stranger. Another turns two clashing co-workers into the center of a looping, almost absurdist survival story. There’s a stripped-back character study of Alpha before she fully becomes the villain audiences know. Elsewhere, the show edges toward “horror noir,” with a story about isolation, ethics, and how much of the planet is still worth saving when the dead own most of it.

That range lets the cast show off. Terry Crews, best known for comedy and action, plays Joe, a bunker-dwelling doomsday prepper whose routines have brought security but not much meaning. Pairing him with Olivia Munn’s Evie, a more chaotic and emotionally open counterpoint, gives their episode an unexpected tenderness. It’s not flawless, but it feels like something the parent series rarely has time for: a small story about two people who might have annoyed each other in the old world learning to listen in the new one.

Parker Posey and Jillian Bell get one of the wildest hours as two insurance co-workers trying to escape Atlanta, only to find themselves circling through a time loop on the worst day of their lives. The episode leans heavily into dark comedy and chaos, exploring what it would mean to relive the start of the apocalypse repeatedly with someone you can barely stand. Not every choice works, but Posey in particular seems to relish the chance to push her character’s frantic energy to the limit.

Samantha Morton’s return as Dee, the woman who will become Alpha, is the clearest bridge back to the core franchise. Her episode takes place on a steamboat refuge that promises temporary safety for her and her daughter, Lydia. The setting feels distinct from the usual ruined cities and forests, and the story finally delivers a focused look at how a fearful, fiercely protective mother turns into one of the most chilling figures in this world. Morton has always brought an intensity to the role, and here she gets to reframe it as a survival instinct, even as it curdles into something darker.

Anthony Edwards and Poppy Liu share another standout entry, centered on a scientist who has dedicated his life to studying the walkers and a determined settler who believes it’s time to reclaim the land and push back. The episode works because it is simple: two opposing philosophies, forced to confront each other in an unforgiving environment. It taps into classic science-fiction questions about human responsibility without losing sight of the immediate danger stalking them.

Where the series struggles is in consistency. Even within a six-episode run, the quality swings. Some hours feel sharp, while others play more like loose sketches. There are times when the show tries to juggle three ideas at once, incorporating high-concept ideas, moral lessons, and genre twists without fully committing to a single one. When that happens, episodes can feel more like curiosities than fully fulfilled stories.

The time-loop episode, for example, will be either a favorite or a frustration, depending on how much patience a viewer has for repetition, heightened characters, and tonal whiplash. The more grounded entries, such as the origin story for Alpha or the noir-leaning survival tale, feel more at home in this universe. The anthology was clearly built to test limits, which is admirable, but not every limit it pushes feels necessary.

Performance quality also varies. Some actors adjust seamlessly to the apocalypse, grounding their roles in grief, exhaustion, and stubborn hope. Others lean too hard into stylized delivery, which, when combined with experimental plotting, can tip scenes toward pastiche rather than sincere genre storytelling.

Tonally, the show attempts to strike a balance between dread, trauma, and moments of offbeat humor. That balance is part of what makes a couple of the episodes feel fresh: the world is still brutal, but people cling to their oddities, their petty arguments, and their weird coping mechanisms. At its best, TALES OF THE WALKING DEAD uses that contrast to say something about how people adapt. At its weakest, it undercuts its own tension by leaning too far into quirk without anchoring it to character truth.

From a larger universe perspective, the anthology doesn’t radically reshape the mythology. Aside from Alpha’s episode, most stories could be removed from the franchise and still function as standalone zombie tales. That’s both a strength and a weakness. On one hand, it means newcomers could jump in without needing to know every spin-off and season arc. On the other hand, longtime fans might wish for a bit more connective tissue, something that feels less like side notes and more like integral pieces of a bigger whole.

Visually, the show maintains the familiar grime and decay of its parent series while occasionally incorporating more stylized elements, depending on the episode. The steamboat refuge, the long stretches of road, the isolated research zones, and the cramped offices all offer slightly different flavors of the apocalypse.

By the time the anthology wraps its six-episode run, the overall impression is clear: this is a mixed bag with a handful of standouts, some welcome risks, and a few misfires. It serves as a testing ground for ideas that, with further refinement, could lead to a stronger second season or influence future projects within the same universe. For dedicated fans of The Walking Dead, there is enough here to justify the time, especially if expectations are set properly. This is not a reinvention of the franchise, and it doesn’t pretend to be. It is a chance to see different corners of the same broken world.

TALES OF THE WALKING DEAD ends up as one of those shows that you appreciate more for what it attempts than for what it achieves. When it hits, it delivers tense, character-driven stories that feel distinct from the main series. When it misses, it still at least tries something different, which is more than can be said for many long-running properties. For you, it’s squarely in that “good, not great” category: worth a watch, especially for a few key episodes and performances, but not the kind of series that demands a permanent spot near the top of the canon.

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[photo courtesy of ACORN MEDIA INTERNATIONAL]

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