Maggie and Negan are back for another round in The Walking Dead: Dead City. The spinoff to The Walking Dead franchise was quickly renewed after its first season that followed the polar opposite duo through an apocalyptic New York City. The pair left on not-so-good terms, inviting more bitterness and hatred to fuel their iconic feud in a second season.

Unlike The Walking Dead and its other spinoffs, Season 2 of Dead City won’t be released within a year of the prior season. Fans will have to wait until 2025 when it airs on AMC and AMC+. That may account for the intricate world-building in a city, rather than the countryside that most Walking Dead shows are set in. But fans aren’t left completely in the dark about the series. San Diego Comic Con 2024 was a huge event for Dead City, having announced several new cast members and releasing a short teaser trailer for the second season.

When Will The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Be Released?

As mentioned before, Dead City Season 2 won’t be released until 2025. An exact date hasn’t been announced yet, but that’s typical of Walking Dead shows. Only recently was it revealed that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 would premiere on Sept. 29, 2024. But since a teaser has already been released for Dead City Season 2, and it officially finished filming in July 2024, there’s a good chance the first episode will premiere in the early months of 2025. As always, each episode will premiere on Sundays on AMC. Since episodes of The Walking Dead: Ones Who Live premiered the same day on AMC+, there’s a chance new episodes of following The Walking Dead shows won’t premiere early anymore, including Dead City Season 2.

The second season is expected to be eight episodes long, compared to the six-episode first season. Eli Jorné will continue to act as the overall showrunner, but there’s yet to be any clarification on who will be writing each episode. That being said, a couple of directors have been announced. Long-time The Walking Dead director, Michael Satrazemis, will be directing Episodes 1, 2 and 8. Some of Satrazemis’ most acclaimed episodes in the The Walking Dead universe include The Walking Dead Season 4, Episode 14, “The Grove” and Fear the Walking Dead Season 4, Episode 5, “Laura.” As for the other announced director, actor Lauren Cohan will make her directing debut with Episodes 4 and 6 this season.

Who Will Join the Cast in The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2?

Dead City Characters
Cast
Returning or New?

Maggie Rhee
Lauren Cohan
Returning

Negan Smith
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Returning

Perlie Armstrong
Gaius Charles
Returning

The Croat

Željko Ivanek
Returning

Ginny
Mahina Napoleon
Returning

The Dama
Lisa Emery
Returning

Hershel Rhee Jr.
Logan Kim
Returning

The Prefect
Jasmin Walker
Returning

Nina
Pallavi Sastry
Returning

Bruegel
Kim Coates
New

Major Lucia Narvaez
Dascha Polanco
New

Christos
Jake Weary
New

Benjamin Pierce
Keir Gilchrist

New

Roksana
Pooya Mohseni
New

Returning main cast members for Season 2 include Lauren Cohan as Maggie, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Gaius Charles as Perlie, Željko Ivanek as The Croat and Mahina Napoleon as Ginny. Both Lisa Emery and Logan Kim, who play The Dama and Hershel Jr. respectively, are expected to have bigger roles in Season 2 given their relationships with the main characters. Other characters that most certainly have to come back, but haven’t been heavily featured in early marketing, are The Prefect of New Babylon and Nina, the latter of whom was Maggie’s closest ally at the Bricks community.

What’s really going to step up Dead City‘s game in Season 2 is the new cast members. Several new actors with accomplished filmographies will be joining the series in its second season. Hopefully, these actors can bring new viewers to the series to keep Dead City on air for several seasons. One of the first announcements was for Sons of Anarchy‘s Kim Coates as Bruegel, a new antagonist and leader of a gang in Manhattan, New York. Dascha Polanco (Orange Is the New Black), Jake Weary (Animal Kingdom), Keir Gilchrist (Atypical) and Pooya Mohseni (See You Then) will also play new characters in Season 2.

Has a Trailer Been Released for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2?

At SDCC 2024, an official teaser for Dead City Season 2 was released. While Daryl Dixon Season 2 got the full trailer treatment, Dead City Season 2’s teaser is just over one minute long, but shows plenty to get a glimpse into the story. The trailer sees the usual set of characters in new areas of Manhattan and outside the city. Particularly, the only shot of Ginny in the teaser is in a cornfield, so she may still be at the Bricks while everyone else is fighting in Manhattan.

Logan Kim’s promotion to a bigger role is put into good use in the teaser. He’s often seen with his mother, probably against his own liking considering their broken relationship, but he’s at least taking an active role this season. Kim has hinted at Hershel being a “dark character” this season, creating an interesting dynamic between him and his mother. Maggie and Negan are at the forefront of the trailer, with Negan enjoying his new role in the Dama’s community and Maggie morally conflicted about her decision to sacrifice his life. In between Maggie and Negan, however, are blink-or-you-miss-it moments with the new characters. It’ll definitely take a few rewatches to find them all.

How Did The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Set Up Season 2?

Dead City Season 1 didn’t give the characters a happily ever after. The bright side is that this means there’s more room to give them proper closure with future seasons. In the Dead City Season 1 finale, Maggie exchanges Negan’s life to the Croat for her son, Hershel. Maggie thinks that all is well and done now that she has her son back, but there’s still a lot of strain between her and Hershel. Her son thinks that she’s been so focused on hating Negan and wanting revenge that she’s neglected her own child. In response, Maggie says that she’s going to make things right.

Meanwhile, Negan has learned that his old buddy the Croat isn’t actually the one in charge. It’s actually a woman named the Dama, who leads her own group in Manhattan. After hearing stories about Negan during his glory days as the leader of the Saviors, she assigned the Croat to recruit him, so they can unite several communities in Manhattan against the New Babylon Federation. If Negan fails to comply, the Dama will go after Hershel once again. As Negan gets comfortable, Perlie Armstrong returns to New Babylon where he lies to his superior, the Prefect, about killing Negan. The Prefect is more interested in the Croat’s methane resources, but she has suspicions about Perlie.

What Will The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Be About?

Season 2 of Dead City is very much shaping up to be a reiteration of Seasons 7 and 8 of The Walking Dead. Six months after the Dead City Season 1 finale, Negan is at the top of his game again with a new version of his old bat, Lucille, and using whistling to incite fear in his enemies. The only real difference is that there may be a part of Negan that wants to leave the past behind. As the Season 1 finale suggests, Negan is only helping the Dama so that Hershel is safe. But as he gets back into the groove of things, he may find old habits die hard.

Maggie appears to be teaming up with Perlie this season to kill two birds with one stone. While she’s trying to find Negan to prove to her son that she isn’t a “monster,” she might also be helping Perlie save New Babylon from the Dama’s forces. At the same time, Perlie could be opening his eyes to how the strict laws of New Babylon have been affecting its civilians, now that he’s a victim as well. There’s obviously going to be a lot of self-realization within characters this season, but let’s just hope it doesn’t evolve into unwanted romances between characters whose relationships are rooted in trauma.

The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 premieres in 2025. Season 1 is available to stream on AMC+.