Terry Crews and "Tales of the Walking Dead" co-creator Channing Powell are excited about the new anthology series despite negative reviews of the first episode released on Sunday.
‘Tales’ follows various new and old characters from the original "Walking Dead" series as they try to survive in the zombie-ridden universe. "Well, we were hoping to make six little movies," Powell said during an interview with Deadline. "We kind of came into it thinking, okay, we’re creating six different pilots, and they can all have a different tone."
The first episode of the anthology, which premiered last week on AMC+ and AMC television on Sunday night, follows the characters of Joe and Evie (played by Crews and Olivia Munn) in the aftermath of the original show's zombie apocalypse. Directed by Ron Underwood and written by Maya Goldsmith and Ben Sokolowski, it received mix reviews upon its release. Yet Crews and Powell are still excited about where the series is headed.
"It’s almost like six movies, but this is the thing for me and what I love, and the fact that I don’t die," Crews told Deadline as he described his hopes season 1. "It’s the fact that they did a brilliant job of establishing me in the world, and we all know, if you ever watch Walking Dead, that if anything ends hopeful, all of a sudden there’s going to be a twist."
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Crews added, "There are really, really dark times ahead, and that’s what I’m waiting to really portray, and I think this whole episode does a beautiful job of establishing us, and now it’s time to put us in the fire."
Meanwhile, Powell added he wouldn't be opposed to casting Crews and Munn again the roles of Evie and Joe in potential future seasons. "I am, you know, I’m not opposed to it. That was the intention. I really liked their chemistry together," the "Tales" co-creator told Deadline. "I thought if it works out between them and we get a second, third, or fourth season, or you know, people love these characters, I’d love to keep the door open to explore more of their story together."
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Reactions to the series premiere have not been entirely positive from critics. In a review of the spinoff series, Hollywood Reporter said it was "underwhelming" before adding "Tales of the Walking Dead promises a refreshing change of pace, serving up bite-size, standalone tales of less than an hour each, with very little prior knowledge of the "Walking Dead" shows required. But even without seasons of narrative baggage, most of its tales remain too mired in the same ideas to forge truly new territory. It’s an occasionally diverting genre exercise, but hardly essential viewing in its own right."
The show's Rotten Tomatoes audience score currently stands at 50%.
