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Ha.  I just posted that first clip in the anticipation thread as well.

The second one has me trying to make sense of where they are technologically 10 years after the ZA and doesn't seem to match up with anything we've seen on the mothershow so far.  But I realize that could be because it focuses one on particular gang of idiots in one corner of Virginia who keep trying to kill each other and the outside larger world may look considerably different.  I've always thought it would be the ultimate joke of the kind the original recipe would do if in the end we discover that much of the world beyond Our Gang has recovered and they've been stuck fighting with spears because of all their petty bullshit warring over scraps. I'm trying to give them a wait and see on this.

The pedantic in me is also scratching my head at the tagline "a generation born into a dead world" because technically these kids weren't.  If they're only a decade post ZA these kids were born into a world that ended when they were small children and they should have at least some residual sense of that.  But I also know where splitting hairs tends to get you with this franchise.

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Thats cool, I wasn’t sure what ‘Anticipate’ meant in regards to the show, so thought it best to post in a spoiler thread, the new show and TWD are supposed to be on a similar timeline, the ‘kids’ in the new show do seem to be rather well dressed and groomed, it’ll be interesting to compare the two styles, the main conjoining factor will be the Helicopter people, who also have Rick and Anne / Jadis, I hope the show manages to link up all three shows, including Althea’s Pilot love interest from Fear.

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Basically, Anticipate at this point where we don't have anything in the way of specific spoilers is just a catchall kind of thing we do for whatever media we're seeing or what impressions we're getting.  Legitimate spoilers will of course still end up here as we start to get them.

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(edited)

A few new photos, it looks as though they’re giving ‘how to kill Walkers’ classes, it’ll be interesting to see exactly where in the WD timeline these new folks are being deposited.

From the early clips it seemed that they were in it from the start, but Walker killing lessons makes me wonder, either way I hope they can give us something new and refreshing for those of us who have been in for many, many years.

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Edited by OoohMaggie
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3 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

I’m trying to muster some enthusiasm, I really am, it’s just that I’m finding it really difficult to stay awa............Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I gave up enthusiasm for Lent.  i also gave up interest in that teaser right about the time Young Doctor Who stepped through the door into the wilderness wielding a Popeil Pocket Fisherman to fend off the undead hordes.

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Again, that trailer is doing nothing to convince me that this series isn't borrowing heavily from Jonathan Maberry's YA Rot & Ruin series of books, down to the relatively civilized rebuilt world that can commemorate 10 years of the zombie apocalypse until a group of plucky young teens decide to go adventurin' outside the fence. Amusingly, that series name checks the original Walking Dead source material by listing Rick and Carl as legendary zombie fighters. It's not a bad series of books, or wouldn't be if didn't get completely bogged down on the love lives of a bunch of petulant 16-year-olds.

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Advance screening copies of the first two episodes of TWD: WB were provided to the media back in March (when this series was initially slated to debut in April), but the embargo on posting reviews was only lifted recently (since the debut is now slated for Oct. 4). These reviews are a mixed bag - I'll post the mostly POSITIVE reviews first (in case you want to stop there). Then I'll post the mostly NEGATIVE reviews below. (FYI, even the reviews that are titled "spoiler-free" reveal a lot of information.) ...

POSITIVE REVIEWS:

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Review: A Brave and Different Direction for the Franchise
By CAMERON BONOMOLO - September 21, 2020
https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-review-spoiler-free-walking-dead-universe/ 

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Taking place 10 years after the outbreak of a mysterious virus that reanimates the freshly dead as flesh-hungry "empties," World Beyond introduces us to a surviving civilization in Nebraska. Sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) are among the nearly 10,000 survivors living in relative comfort and safety behind the walls of the Campus Colony, where they grew up with guardian and security expert Felix (Nico Tortorella).

We learn their community is one of the post-apocalypse civilizations represented by the three-circle symbol spotted in both Fear and The Walking Dead, most notably marking the black helicopter that shuttled Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) away from Virginia. Most prominent of the allied three is the ultra-mysterious Civic Republic, represented here by Civic Republic Military Lt. Col. Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond).
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When the girls receive a distressing message from their scientist father — who is purportedly off working to cure the zombie plague in a CRM-controlled research facility in New York State — the sisters decide to be brave and embark on a cross-country rescue mission. Along with new friends Elton (Nicolas Cantu) and Silas (Hal Cumpston), who have their reasons for joining the dangerous quest taking them into the outside world for the first time, the quartet embraces the nickname of "the Endlings" — a term related to the end of a species.
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The black-wearing Civic Republic Military soldiers are working to "bring this world back," so says Elizabeth, teasing a storyline expected to unfurl in the Rick-focused Walking Dead feature film involving CRM and their shadowy operation.
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For many, this lore will be the most intriguing part of World Beyond. There is talk of so-far unseen civilizations, and perhaps most surprisingly, a functioning government. The taste of what's out there can often overshadow the here and now — longtime Walking Dead and Fear viewers will pick up on hints about the missing Rick — but our new group of survivors, and their respective histories and hang-ups, are interesting enough to keep audiences coming back on Sunday nights.
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After viewing "Brave" and the second episode, "The Blaze of Gory," it's noticed that World Beyond lacks the creepiness and gritty rawness of the first season of the Frank Darabont-helmed Walking Dead. There are sequences of thrilling horror — most notably the kids' first encounter with a large group of empties in "The Blaze of Gory" — but, at least early on, World Beyond is more optimistic in a tone befitting of its younger cast of characters who have had the luxury of growing up in relatively normal circumstances. It remains to be seen how that tone will continue to differentiate World Beyond from counterparts Fear and The Walking Dead, giving each show a unique feel and place in the budding Walking Dead Universe.

‘World Beyond’ Review: The Perfect ‘Walking Dead’ for Generation COVID
By Alex Zalben  Sep 21, 2020
https://decider.com/2020/09/21/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-review/ 

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Before we get back to the general relevance of World Beyond to our current circumstances, a bit about the plot of the show (the first two episodes of the ten episode season were provided for review). Initially set in one of three Civil Republic Military (CRM) cities, World Beyond shows how not everyone has had to scramble for scraps like on The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. Thanks to an alliance between the three pockets of civilization, things are settled, food is plentiful, and everyone is pretty happy. Except for the teens, of course, who want the typical teen thing: to be anywhere else.

Despite frequent flashbacks a la LOST (down to a plane crash in the first episode), the bulk of the action focuses on stars Aliyah Royale as Iris, Annet Mahendru as Huck, Alexa Mansour as Hope, Nicolas Cantu as Elton, and Hal Cumpston as Silas; a mixed group of teens straight out of The Breakfast Club. They’re all good and will, I imagine, bring in a younger audience to the TWD franchise. But Mansour in particular is a revelation who gets to dig deep in her emotions and motivations, and almost immediately becomes an anchor for this show like Andrew Lincoln (on TWD) and Kim Dickens (on Fear) before her. Like Breakfast Club, she’s the John Bender (Judd Nelson), the rebel who spurs the more reserved characters on to action. And like Nelson’s Bender, it’s impossible to look away from her when she’s on screen.
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When she’s off-screen, though, the show still finds time to bring in an adult cast that includes Julia Ormond (!!!) as Elizabeth Kublek, a leader in the CRM organization and a key to understanding the mysterious group which has thus-far plagued both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. She’s also what makes this spinoff essential to fans of the franchise… Where TWD has hinted at CRM with their long-running “helicopter people” mystery, which branched off when they air-lifted Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) to safety several seasons back; and Fear dug a little deeper by allowing us to meet one of those helicopter people; World Beyond is entrenched in CRM. There are still plenty of details to unravel by the time the second hour ends, and new mysteries that crop up. But if you’re curious about this “three rings” organization, World Beyond is like going from glimpsing the corner of a Christmas present in your parent’s closet, to seeing the catalogues they ordered from lying around the house.
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But what makes it work is that it’s still a coming of age story with engaging characters, and it’s still full of gross, innovative zombies from effects guru Greg Nicotero and his team. The walkers/roamers/biters/whatever you want to call them of World Beyond are creative and new, overgrown with moss and decaying in an area that’s been mostly cleared of the undead. The show takes place roughly around the same time as the other two shows (which have both had multiple instances of timeline shake-ups); but World Beyond really does feel like a different place and time than TWD or Fear.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Review (Spoiler Free)
By Ron Hogan  September 21, 2020
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-review/ 

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At its core, World Beyond is a young adult drama, albeit one in unusual circumstances. The four main teen characters highlighted in the first episode, Hope (Alexa Mansour), Iris (Aliyah Royale), Silas (Hal Cumpston), and Elton (Nicolas Cantu, who makes an immediate impression from his first appearance), have all grown up in the relative comfort of the Campus Colony, but all of them bear the scars of generational trauma from being elementary school students or younger when the world collapsed around them. They’re too young to really remember how life in the old world was, but remember enough, specifically about that one huge trauma at a crucial point in their development, to be continually effected by it even after settling into a safe, prosperous community with strong walls and no real nearby walker threat.

How that trauma effects the four younger leads is a major component of the first two episodes. The four teens have all responded to the same events in different ways, which reflects in their different personalities. They may not know much about the before times, but the events of the fall have changed them in vastly different ways, while also giving them a shared traumatic experience to bond them together. The show’s older characters, Felix (Nico Tortorella) and Huck (Annet Mahendru), offering a different perspective on that day as high school or college-aged people going through that very same traumatic series of events. They’re no less marked, but it manifests differently in an 18 year old than it would in a 7 year old, and that’s something that the show makes a point of exploring almost immediately in its first two episodes.

If nothing else, World Beyond offers something different from the original show, and that’s a welcome difference. It’s a different world, and a different experience, in a different part of the former United States after a significant leap forward in time. In that sense, the show’s title serves multiple purposes. It’s both the world beyond Rick Grimes and company struggling for survival against The Whisperers and a metaphor for a young person’s journey from the familiarity and routine of gym class, student government, and homework into the larger, scarier world beyond known as adulthood. Growing up is terrifying even in a world without zombies; in this world beyond our own, growing up might be the last thing a high schooler ever does.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 1 preview – Brave new world
by Sarabeth Pollock   September 21, 2020
https://undeadwalking.com/2020/09/21/walking-dead-world-beyond-season-1-preview/ 

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Before we get too far into this review, let’s establish one thing: The Walking Dead: World Beyond is not Riverdale set in the TWD Universe.

Truthfully, this is something I worried about from the moment I first saw the trailer. I didn’t mind the younger cast, rather I worried that it would be a teen drama set in the apocalypse. It’s not.
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The show is dark, much darker than I expected. The pilot episode will leave jaws hanging and people wondering what they just saw and how it fits into the larger TWD Universe. And that’s a good thing. The problem with the flagship is that it’s running on the fumes of the comic book canon. (Good fumes, but fumes nonetheless) Once the show caught up to the comic book, what then?
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What that means for World Beyond is that it’s all fresh material, tied into the greater TWD Universe by well-placed threads that fans will spot in the form of Easter Eggs throughout the pilot episode and beyond. (I’ve seen 101 and 102 so far) Showrunner Matt Negrete was a writer for The Walking Dead with Angela Kang, so he knows what the greater universe looks like and he was picked for the job, no doubt, because he knows how to move this limited series into place to tell that story.

From the very first moments, World Beyond does a fantastic job establishing this new world and the people who live in it. With only two seasons to tell the story, the writing must be tight and fans can expect every moment to serve a greater purpose. There’s a reason for everything because there isn’t time (or space) to waste.

World Beyond introduces fans to the survivors living on a college campus in Nebraska ten years after the fall of civilization. They’re not living, they’re thriving. The bustling community has everything it needs and it’s a community of several thousand people. Everyone has a job and a responsibility, and the kids grow up learning how to fight “empties” (aka walkers) even though some may never have seen one in real life.
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Sisters Hope (Alexa Mansour) and Iris (Aliyah Royale) play well off of each other. Iris is brilliant and motivated while her sister Hope hides her brilliance behind her constant moping. The death of their mother when the outbreak began really impacted them, and while Iris became a natural leader, Hope is cautious. She doesn’t trust anyone.

Felix (Nico Tortorella) is the head of the security team in the community, and he’s also watching out for Hope and Iris while their father is away. He watched these girls grow up and they’re like family to him. His partner Huck (Annet Mahendru) is no-nonsense but she watches out for her partner no matter what.

Silas (Hal Cumpston) is mysterious, having recently arrived at the community. He’s quiet and imposing because he hasn’t grown up with everyone else, but he pays attention to what’s happening around him and he’s a good judge of character.

Elton (Nicolas Cantu) is the youngest member of the group but his keen intellect makes him a valuable companion. His inquisitive nature has taken him outside of the walls so that he can conduct experiments on the empties.

Julia Ormond’s Elizabeth is delectably mysterious. You never know what she’s really saying because she plays things so close to the chest, but there’s no question why she’s being billed as the villain.

Together, this mix of characters built a story that had me hooked as soon as the pilot ended. That’s not easy to do in an age where some shows take several episodes to become interesting. With World Beyond the tight writing and unique concept, along with the ties to the greater TWD Universe, make it instantly watchable and enjoyable.

‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’ Is an Effective Look at Life After Apocalypse: TV Review
By Daniel D'Addario    September 21, 2020
https://variety.com/2020/tv/reviews/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-tv-review-1234773575/ 

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... The show’s second spinoff attempts to prove just how malleable the “Dead” universe really is by moving its action into the future; on its own limited terms, it’s a success, though viewers might be forgiven for wondering just how much gas is left in the tank.

“The Walking Dead: World Beyond” concerns two sisters, dutiful Iris (Aliyah Royale) and rebel-heart Hope (Alexa Mansour) who exist in a world where the public has clawed out a sort of detente with the zombie threat. A decade after the apocalypse, a Nebraska settlement lives a sort of cosseted, anxious life with the undead kept out at great effort. The possibility of an alliance with another settlement in Portland brings into town a powerful and imposing military leader (Julia Ormond) whom Hope mistrusts. Part of the tension between girls and leadership is the fact that their father (Joe Holt) has been traded to Portland in order to cement the alliance, with a sort of mercenary logic that, as this show often does, suggests our future will look a great deal like our feudal past.

As the two girls set out on an adventure with schoolmates in tow, the relationship between them can be schematic — each is what the other is not — but is nicely performed. And the trauma the pair share gets elegantly at the ways in which this show is meaningfully different from “The Walking Dead.” “World Beyond” has the ability to show the ways in which the long-tail effects of cataclysm play out. On a societal level, these insights are not that surprising, and sometimes strain plausibility (we’re never really told how Portland and Omaha got into contact). But as regards human relationships, it’s interesting to see an imagining of how young people thrust into chaos as small children metabolize that, the ways in which, say, one sister bends towards rigor and order and another into trusting only her instincts. “World Beyond” borrows some of its weight from the climate in which it appears: The idea of how young people are affected by chaos has a certain piquancy at the moment.

This is not a perfect series: The shots of the undead often look cheap and the rules of how these monsters are evaded have never felt more loosely applied. And yet there’s a willingness to reinvent, to genuinely probe a corner of the universe previously untouched, that makes this series feel serious in its intent and, for fans of the forerunning series, well worth checking out. Its willingness to place two young women at its center, and to make their emotional response to family upheaval the story of the apocalypse, shows a curiosity worth crediting. 

(Continued below...)

Edited by tv echo
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And now for your reading enjoyment, here are the...

NEGATIVE REVIEWS:

Walking Dead World Beyond review: Junior zombie tale lacks bite
Richard Trenholm   Sept. 20, 2020 
https://www.cnet.com/news/walking-dead-world-beyond-review-junior-zombie-tale-lacks-bite/ 

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TV hit The Walking Dead asks what happens after the world is overrun by zombies. But what happens after that? The Walking Dead: World Beyond cuts to 10 years after the zombie apocalypse and meets the kids coming of age in a strange new world. Let's call it Booksmart with zombies. Stand By Me with more corpses. The Breakfast Club with actual clubs.
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Of course, anyone who's seen the original Walking Dead series knows what happens when folks get too settled in even the most comfortable settlement. Except in World Beyond. The first of World Beyond's two biggest problems is it's just rather cosy.

The settlement feels rather undramatic and the zombies barely treated as a threat, with little of the creeping suspense permeating the original show. There's some tension from the arrival of the ambiguous black-clad Civic Republic Military, an organization familiar to longtime Deadheads. But it's not exactly nail-biting stuff, even when Hope and Iris set out beyond the safety of the town walls into meandering set pieces.
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There's at least one deliciously dark image in each of the first two episodes shared with press by AMC, which is surely what zombie fans crave. But the action is otherwise reined in from the irresistibly inventive and notoriously nasty goriness of the main show and previous spin-off Fear The Walking Dead.
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This YA version of Walking Dead focuses on a gang of teen misfits, each with their own backstory and portrayed in decent performances by the young cast. At school, Hope and Iris are two sisters who couldn't be more different. One's student president and one's a tough rebel, but they're both looking to a future beyond their sun-dappled all-American small town.

Familiarity is the bigger issue, and not just the scene where a teen addressing the school tears up her speech to speak from the heart instead. Calling it World Beyond suggests we'll see a new perspective on the Walking Dead universe, perhaps taking us to an intriguing environment we haven't seen before or exploring how the zompocalypse affected a different part of society, as Fear the Walking Dead did on a boat ride to Mexico. At the very least we might expect World Beyond to look a little different to the previous shows. But no: it's another road trip through the dusty roads and leafy forests of rural America.
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World Beyond can offer something to long-time viewers: a closer look at the Civic Republic, the mysterious black-clad army that spirited away the original show's protagonist Rick Grimes on a helicopter in season 9 . Whether that's enough to entice fans to a relatively bloodless version of the Walking Dead universe remains to be seen.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond is dead on arrival
BY DAVID OPIE     September 21, 2020
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a34093102/walking-dead-world-beyond-review-spinoff/ 

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The pilot kicks off with 'Monument Day', an occasion which marks the anniversary of all things zombie. Exactly ten years have passed since 'The Night the Sky Fell', and the children who survived are trying to carry on as normal. Think Clueless or The Breakfast Club, but instead of studying algebra, kids like Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) are taught how to stab "empties" through the eye.
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Of course, as anyone who's actually watched The Walking Dead already knows, nowhere is truly safe. Flashbacks to the initial outbreak continue to traumatise these characters internally, and the presence of a military group called the Civic Republic Military (CRM) doesn't bode well either.

Led by Lt Col. Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond), this shady organisation and its nefarious goals remain unclear for now. However, as Walking Dead fans already know, the CRM will likely play a big role in Rick Grimes' future. This narrative thread is even juicier than the entrails which walkers like to pull out and feast on, but is this enough to justify World Beyond's existence?
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Despite the CRM's presence and a whole host of walkers waiting outside the town, there's a considerable lack of tension in this community. That's to be expected at first given the set-up, but even when Iris and Hope set out on their journey into the big, wide world, there's still very little horror to speak of.

Not only are the walkers few and far between for the most part, there's not much here that the other shows haven't already tackled — aside perhaps from one particular zombie who has to be seen to be bee-lieved.
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Watching survivors learn how to kill zombies again is about as thrilling as watching teenagers play monopoly, something which also happens in the first two episodes of World Beyond. In a franchise which often leans too far into the bleak reality of apocalyptic life, there is something to be said for this more hopeful optimism. Unfortunately, World Beyond moves too far in the opposite direction.

Sure, this show is basically the YA equivalent of The Walking Dead and should therefore appeal to younger fans. Still, did we really need to see some tacky CGI fireflies flit around a walker while the kids play board games in their treehouse? World Beyond was never going to be a gore-fest like its older counterparts, but we could have forgiven the pilot's tame approach to horror if it had something new to say.
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Fear The Walking Dead has its flaws, but at least that show tries to mix things up with some new perspectives on the apocalypse. Like The Walking Dead before it, World Beyond is essentially just another road trip through rural America, except with slightly shorter, more inexperienced people.
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While some of the acting is a tad sluggish, much like the walkers themselves, Nico Tortorella impresses in the role of Felix, the head of security detail. And as you might expect, Julia Ormond is mesmerising as the CRM commander who may or may not know where Rick Grimes is...
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Iris declares at one point that "We are the future," but is this the future that fans of The Walking Dead deserve? Moving forward, World Beyond needs to work a lot harder if the franchise stands any chance of shuffling on beyond The Walking Dead's demise.

The Walking Dead World Beyond Review: The Third Time is Not the Charm
Paul Dailly September 24, 2020
https://www.tvfanatic.com/2020/09/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-review-the-third-time-is-not-the-c/ 

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The latest suffers from the jump due to poor characterization, no stakes, and a group of, quite frankly, uninteresting teenagers.
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Focusing on the first generation of kids to grow up during the apocalypse could have had legs, but the best way to sum up World Beyond is as a teen melodrama with an apocalyptic backdrop. 

Through two episodes, the teens find themselves in a string of deadly situations, but it says a lot about the series because of how little I cared about any of them.
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Alexa Mansour leads the cast as Hope, a young woman determined to find her missing scientist father. She doesn't let anyone stand in her way, but she also has a lot of secrets. 

Out of the supposedly young characters, Hope is the most well-rounded, and she feels like a character that could be a part of the franchise. 

Mansour gives Hope the much-needed vulnerability, allowing you to believe she is a young woman trying to find herself in a world filled with zombies. 

Aliyah Royale plays her sister, Iris, and if the first two episodes are anything to go by, she will be in her sister's shadow for much of the series' 20-episode run. 
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The development for Iris in those two episodes was absurd, and that's problematic when she's supposed to be one of the lead characters. 

Royale also gets the corniest dialogue that makes Iris seem dull and uninspired. The actor does her best with what she's given to work with, but what hinders her out of the gate is the poor writing. 

Nico Tortorella and Annet Mahendru play the much more exciting characters, Felix and Huck. 

Their characters have a dynamic that is unmatched by the two sisters, who are supposed to be at the wheel of the show. 
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Felix, in particular, gets a meaty storyline to work with in the second episode that helps him become the best character on the show. 

Huck appears to be along for the ride with Felix, but there's a lot going on for her. 

There are hints of a much bigger story with the CRM, but not even Julia Ormond could make it interesting. 

The CRM have been a part of the comic book series of The Walking Dead, so at least fans know what to expect, but as far as a long-term storyline featuring them on this particular series, it leaves a lot be desired. 
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It pains me to say this because of the tremendous respect I have for the franchise, but TWD: World Beyond does not deserve to be set in the same universe as the other two series. It plays like a series that has been rejected by The CW. 

From the teen melodrama to the encounters with zombies, everything seems watered down.
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The series is obviously targeting a younger audience, and while networks are eager for more younger-skewing content, TWD: World Beyond lacks the excitement of the other series. 

Yes, there is a story in there about youngsters growing up in the apocalypse, but the two episodes screened for critics don't instill much hope that the series is going to blossom into something deserving of the brand name. 

The show might offer just enough mythology that could connect to the other series to make it worth watching, but if you tune in expecting something close to The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead, you will be sorely disappointed. 

The high-stakes battles with walkers have been replaced by teens traversing a wasteland that does not seem as scary as it did with adults at the helm. 
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And somehow, teens growing up in the battle-torn land cannot bring themselves to harm walkers. Have they been raised to believe walkers have souls? You might get that impression, and we don't have an answer.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Review: Well-Intentioned Spin-off Kinda Makes Us Miss Those Flesh-Eating Zombies
BY CANDICE FREDERICK     SEP 21, 2020
https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-walking-dead-the-world-beyond-review-amc-spinoff/ 

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Enter Iris (Aliyah Royale), an ambitious college student whose mother died 10 years ago on "the night the sky fell," the apocalyptic event when things literally fell from the sky as revealed in incredibly confusing flashbacks. She's managed to maintain some sense of sanity by compartmentalizing that traumatic event. Though Iris reluctantly sees a therapist who tries to excavate the guilt she feels for not doing more to prevent her mother's death, she navigates her world with the hope that things can and will be better someday. It is why she welcomes Elizabeth (Julia Ormond), a mysterious lieutenant colonel, into her tight circle going on nothing but her declaration of alliance.

On the other hand, Iris' sister, the ironically named Hope (Alexa Mansour), embodies all the rebellion and rage her other half suppresses. For instance, Hope, plagued by her own tragic memories of their mother's death, is instantly suspicious when Elizabeth drops by their blockaded community. The military member represents the same organization that lured her and Iris' scientist father away from them for months on end to help them find a cure for the apocalypse, and he has yet to return. This, and the ongoing standardization of the controlled chaos that is their way of life, has Hope in a perpetual state of unrest — and often at odds with her sister.
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The way particularly younger people navigate their individual trauma in a world that encourages them to forget or move beyond it will certainly resonate with audiences today. But one of the things that made The Walking Dead so great are the stakes. If the zombies — or "the empties," as they're called in World Beyond -- are merely a distant threat, there is very little reason to watch unless you're just curious about what it's like for this generation to live in a community rebuilt on top of decimation. (Anyone who knows even a little about American history can see the allegory brimming at the surface).

As well-intentioned as World Beyond is, it needs the franchise's foundation of horror to be even half as captivating as its original predecessor. The second episode gives the series a much-needed jolt when Iris and Hope, with two equally restless peers (Nicolas Cantu and Hal Cumpston) in tow, are compelled to leave their close-knit quarters behind to finally follow their dad. But even then, out in the wild with zombies lurking around every bend, the undead seem more like wallpaper — speed bumps along their journey of independence.

World Beyond succumbs, within just the first two episodes that were offered to journalists, to the problems The Walking Dead had once it became clear it had run its course: The zombies are no longer the main peril. In fact, the humans are each other's biggest threat. Each character's memories and traumas have trapped them in their own prisons that dictate who to trust, who to hate, and what kind of armor — both psychological and physical — they choose to carry with them just to get by in their daily lives. On top of that is a flimsy theme that our four young central protagonists have run off in order to find a purpose in their lives beyond simply making the best of a world they fear will eventually come to an end. It's an all-too-familiar storyline we've seen before.

The world-building throughout the Walking Dead franchise has always been impressive — down to the abandoned buses, tattered houses and tumbleweed grounds — and World Beyond is no exception. This latest installment impressively pulls back the layers to show how even if you build around it, the decayed world is still in plain view. Still, World Beyond doesn't offer audiences fresh ideas or even fascinating characters for which to root. Rather — regardless of where you think they fit on the morality scale — it is the same level of banal. Even the zombies don't seem all that pressed to attack them. 

Walking Dead: World Beyond Review: Second Spinoff Is Undead on Arrival
By Charlie Mason / September 21 2020
https://tvline.com/2020/09/21/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-review-amc-spinoff-crm/ 

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When I mentioned to a colleague that I’d just watched the premiere of AMC’s second spinoff of The Walking Dead, World Beyond, he asked just one question: “Do you think there’s an audience for it?” And I had to admit, I do.

The series, which follows teenage sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) as they trek from Nebraska to New York in search of their scientist father, is probably just right for younger viewers who are more interested in growing pains than zombie bites. It even has in shady CRM leader Elizabeth (Julia Ormond) a perfect stand-in for the ultimate JV antagonist, The Hunger Games’ President Snow.

But do I like the show (which kicks off Sunday, Oct. 4, at 10/9c; Oct. 1 for AMC+ subscribers)? Based on the first episode, God, no. The siblings and their guy pals are yin and yang stereotypes written in what the kids in The Breakfast Club would’ve dismissed as “the simplest terms.” Future conflicts and revelations are telegraphed with all the subtlety of pianos being dropped on our heads. And at the end of the hour, I just didn’t care what happened to any of the main characters.
*  *  *
That said, yes, I’ll still watch. Groaning like a walker that’s gone too long between meals, but I will, because creators Scott M. Gimple and Matthew Negrete have shrewdly built into the limited series the promise of tantalizing intel about CRM, the enigmatic organization that has in its possession not only Iris and Hope’s dad but The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes and Fear the Walking Dead’s Isabelle.

Will I like it, though? I suspect not. Those of us who tune in to the other two shows in the franchise have already been here, seen this — and we’ve seen it done with greater artfulness, efficacy and urgency. Adding this third series to the rotation, even temporarily, feels more than a little bit like beating an undead horse.

 

Edited by tv echo
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I'm at least entertained enough at getting confirmation that other parts of the country did indeed manage to patch functioning societies and governments together while our original recipe gang was fighting over scraps of increasingly expired garbage and killing each other with spears to take a look see.

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‘Walking Dead: World Beyond’ Star Aliyah Royale Says Her Character Has Something In Common with Negan
Fred Topel  October 5, 2020
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/walking-dead-world-beyond-star-aliyah-royale-says-her-character-has-something-in-common-with-negan.html/ 

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Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) famously named his barbed wire baseball bad Lucille. The kids of Walking Dead: World Beyond name and personalize their weapons too. Iris named hers Shiloh.
*  *  *
“They’re these long metal rods that have a blade at the end,” Royale said. “Instead of a blade, because mine was sort of makeshift, her top is a triceratops horn. She’s super badass. That’s my favorite weapon on the show. I always feel like a warrior the second she’s in my hands. I’m always ready for battle.”
*  *  *
“Iris starts off trying to remember how she learned to kill or avoid walkers from Campus Colony, but when you’re in the field, it’s a different kind of story,” Royale said. “It’s different when you’re facing the dead eye to eye, falling flesh and all. It starts off really tricky and less refined but as the show goes on, you’ll see. We all become really incredible warriors.”

Julia Ormond on if Elizabeth is friend or foe on The Walking Dead: World Beyond
By Dalton Ross   October 6, 2020
https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-world-beyond-julia-ormond-elizabeth-kublek/ 

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I was talking to your showrunner, Matt Negrete, who's mentioned that there's sort of a Stand By Me influence on the show, where these kids are going on this quest. It is a young cast. What sort of vibe on set do you have when you have that much youth and energy?
[JULIA ORMOND:]
Yeah, it really does make you feel old. I mean, it makes you feel old, but it also makes you feel more youthful at the same time. It's just really great. I think it's the way that the guys have written it. There is this game on or game over vibe, and there is something about the bandwidth of the younger cast that is very distinct. They’ve done this really good job of making each of the characters very distinct and, in traditional form, the spin-off has its own vibe.
*  *  *
You get this job on this show and maybe you're thinking, "Wow, I might be doing this for years and years and years." And then they announce, "Okay, this is going to be a two-season show." What's your reaction to that?
Yeah, it was a little bumpy the way that it got rolled out, but they are our boss, the studio. That's how they roll. I think, I don't know. It's a double-edged sword. I would also say that whatever the announcements are — it's television, they could always change their mind. But I do think it's an opportunity for them to write in a different way. I think it holds them to a different type of storytelling that I think could be good for it. Well, let's hope that it's good for it and not bad for it.
*  *  *
So let’s talk about what we saw in this first episode. It's pretty clear that Elizabeth has this interest in Hope and Iris, even after one of them flipped her off when she stepped off the helicopter. What does she make of these two young women? What can you tell us about her interest? Is it just purely because their dad is working for the CRM? Where does it come from?
I think it's quite an interesting moment in the fact that Elizabeth clocks being flipped off and doesn't really react to it. She's almost quite amused by it. I think what you should have the sense of is that she's expecting that and knows more about them. It taps into that thing of, there are the parents, there are the authority figures, and then there are these young kids. Obviously, when it comes to Iris and Hope, Elizabeth has an agenda. She has an agenda that she has to fulfill that's around a philosophy, and I think it's the episodes to come that will unpack for us to what degree is she transgressing what she's meant to do. Is she doing it for her own volition? Why is she doing it? All those things, I think, are story points to come.

Just piggybacking off of that, so why does Elizabeth tell them where their dad is and give them that coded map? I can't help but feel there's an ulterior motive there. What do you want to say about that?
I guess what I would say about it is that they have to make their own decision as to whether or not they trust it. I mean, it could be completely false and setting them up for failure, or it could be driven by something more altruistic, and they ultimately have to make that call. I think it's indicative of the fact that for Iris and Hope, they have nothing to lose. They have this sense that their dad is in danger, and they have to try and get to him. I don't think at this point you should necessarily be able to work out where Elizabeth sits within all of that. She's obviously dabbling, nudging in some way that's a little bit inappropriate.
*  *  *
There's that scene during Monument Day where Iris is making the speech and turns to you and says, "I don't trust you." And then you respond, "You will. Your father does. Someday you'll understand." That's a bold thing for Iris to do in the middle of the speech, and yet your character is so composed in the response, which I found very interesting.
Well, I hope that that comes across as more nuanced. If Elizabeth were dismissive, then she could have them taken out then and there. I think there's a compassion around it in terms of... There's a certain journey that I think Elizabeth knows they all have to go on, and that it's going to take a certain amount to get them out the door, and that they're not necessarily going to be happy about all of it.

So I have a theory that I'm going to run by you, which is going to make me look really smart or really stupid. I don't think the dad sent the coded message. He said not to tell Felix, which is weird. You're giving them this map. I am, by my very nature, a very suspicious person and I'm very suspicious of all of this. It's almost as if someone else wants them to head out looking for him for some reason. What do you make of my theory, Julia?
I think the writer's room would be particularly interested in your theory. I think you could quite happily join the writer's room, but it is just a theory. It could be, and it might not be.

Julia Ormond Interview - The Walking Dead: World Beyond
BY JOE DECKELMEIER    OCTOBER 6, 2020
https://screenrant.com/walking-dead-world-beyond-julia-ormond-interview/ 

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I really find it refreshing that this show is taken from the lens of these two young ladies  that are just trying to find themselves in the craziness of the world. With that being said, how does Elizabeth view Iris and the community that she's in?
Julia Ormond: Well, I think it's one of those things where that is what this series and those two seasons will unpack. When she first arrives, she's clearly got an agenda, but you don't really know what's behind the agenda. You don't really know the thinking behind it, the emotions behind it - but there is clearly some need. I think you should be left a little bit on the fence, in terms of is she personally transgressive in execution of what she's asked to go do?

Without getting into any spoilers, what is the Civic Republic?
Julia Ormond: The Civic Republic is a sophisticated community. I know that [Nico Tortorella] quite well described it as sort of how the Walking Dead series has been local, it's been family and then it builds up into these communities and Hilltop. There's something about the CRM, where it's probably the most sophisticated community that we've seen; you get little bites of things throughout Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, in terms of those moments where as an audience, it's a drop in the bucket of something that's going on in this world that is not answered for forever.

In CRM, we recognize there's been a soldier that has landed, there's been somebody else with a map. There's been these little bites of what the CRM is, but it's basically the most sophisticated community that is out there. And in Walking Dead: World Beyond, we kick off with the three circles that you see on the slightly ominous black helicopter that takes Rick Grimes away, and will never be forgiven for doing that. They represent this alliance of three different communities, of which the CRM is one of them. And the most mysterious one.

How does your character end up being where they are at the beginning of our show? What were the circumstances that led up to that, or will that be explained in the show?
Julia Ormond: It's a little bit spoilery. What you should get a sense of is that they have a military background and military experience, and that they've gotten pretty high up. Elizabeth does occupy a leadership position. But I also get the sense that where they're at in the hierarchy - and maybe this is something more helpful to answer - they are not necessarily the highest up person. They are also fulfilling a mission.

So, there is this kind of political mission, political agenda, that the military personnel are executing. And then you've got the individual within it, who's kind of trying to find their way of executing it. And I think in terms of backstory, of which we will see more or find out more, more about them, there's a lot of justification for why she's at the level she's at.

Annet Mahendru & Nicol Tortorella Interview: The Walking Dead: World Beyond
BY JOE DECKELMEIER    OCTOBER 5, 2020
https://screenrant.com/annet-mahendru-nicol-tortorella-interview-the-walking-dead-world-beyond/ 

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Annet, let's talk about Huck for a second. She's tough as nails and pretty badass. Where does she get her inner strength from?
Annet Mahendru: From her experience, really. She's been in the armed forces, and she's joined teams before and believed in them and worked really hard - and then realized that people make decisions sometimes out of all sorts of interests. A lot of times, they don't know, they just kind of push the button. She's been disillusioned by life and has become a standalone figure. She's had to truly align herself with herself.

Before it was like, "Which organization can I join to make sense of the world?" Then you realize everyone's in the same boat, and no one has it figured out. You just have to be real; to look at what's going on in front of you and just see what it does to you, and then respond honestly. And that's what she does. She's out there, inspiring people to do the same; to get out to try something new, really, because there is no one way. There never really was; it was just all trial and error.
*  *  *
Felix is the guardian of these two girls going through this pandemic, something that many parents are going through now. How can people relate to your character on that level?
Nico Tortorella: Yeah, it's funny. I always think about a cousin that I had - that I still have. But growing up, my cousin had just started being a paramedic, transitioning to being a fireman, when I was like in high school. He was my best friend, but he would teach me lessons the hard way. Quick little story: I may or may not have been arrested at my high school graduation. And the way that he reprimanded me for that is something that I bring to this character of Felix. In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm playing a version of my cousin when I'm talking to the girls.

So, to answer your question, I feel like there's a tough love that that has to exist.

How did your character end up in the circumstances of being where they are on this show?
Annet Mahendru: Well, Huck was out in the wild, and she found this community that took her in because she was completely broken. They fixed her up, and she took all sorts of jobs to pay back what they have given her, and then there was a job post in the security team.

She's like, "I got the experience. I was in the armed forces. I've got all sorts of training. I'm gonna save you. I'm gonna keep you safe. I owe you my life." And Felix said, "Yeah, let's go." And that's how she ended up with this community and on the inside, so to say, and now she's taking them back out.

What's the relationship between Huck and Felix? You get to see it a lot in episode 2, but can you talk to me about their relationship and how they care for each other?
Annet Mahendru: Yeah, there's a brotherly connection between them. When you take the sexual aspect away, there's this sense of freedom. You can just be yourself; there's no impressing, there's no end goal. There's just a lot of freedom to be who you are, which is very special between the two. And the sky's the limit.

Nico, how did your characters end up in the circumstances they are to start off start us up on the show? Could you talk to me though about Felix's life before everything happened 10 years ago?
Nico Tortorella: He was troubled. Felix grew up in a pretty religious house; in a Catholic Italian household. And he was trying to find himself. I think that's what we all do when we're growing up; we try to find who we are, who we love, what it means to be alive. And sometimes some of those things are not accepted by the ones that are closest to you.

To try to understand yourself, to look in the mirror and be like, "This is who I am and this is who I love, even though society is telling me that that's not okay," builds a lot of character. That is a deeply spiritual relationship with yourself and with the universe, and it's shaped a lot of who Felix is.
*  *  *
We see Felix, towards the beginning of the show, lock up Hope. Can you talk to me about the relationship he has with the two girls and the way that he views them? He's somewhat of a father figure, or even a big brother type.
Nico Tortorella: I mean, if that's not a metaphor - locking up Hope - I don't know what it is. No, Felix is a brother. He's been part of this family for a long time; this is not a new relationship. Hope, Iris, Leo and Huck for that matter, are the only family that Felix knows - and Will.

But the girls try him. Hope, specifically, pushes Felix to the edge. I think Felix sees a lot of himself in Hope, and he doesn't want her to stray too far. He knows how to fuck with them in the right ways, but also keep them in line. Just like a brother does. You can say shit to family members and to siblings that you can't say or do to anyone else. It's just how families operate. Blood is thicker than water, but it's also harder to clean up.

 

Edited by tv echo
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You can now watch this virtual panel with the showrunners from all three Walking Dead series (TWD, FtWD, TWD: WB) plus Scott Gimple, from NYCC...

-- The EW moderator commented that the World Beyond characters seem to be heading east towards New York and asked if there was a chance that they will meet up with any of the characters from the other shows "at some point, in some fashion." 
Scott Gimple:
"There's absolutely a chance. ... I will say, there's something we're working on that's kind of far afield that - that has some crossover-y elements to it. That's about as hedge-y as I can get. But there really is a chance. Um, there's a far-flung story, um, that I won't even say much about who's working on it because it would reveal some stuff, but, uh, there's plans. How about that? There's plans."

The Walking Dead Showrunners Summit | Entertainment Weekly Presents
New York Comic Con    Streamed live on Oct 9, 2020

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Entertainment Weekly brings together the showrunners from all three TWD series—Angela Kang (The Walking Dead), Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (Fear the Walking Dead), Matt Negrete (The Walking Dead: World Beyond)—along with Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple to discuss the past, present, and future of the franchise, including the recently announced end of the original show as well as the development of multiple future spin-offs. EW Executive Editor At Large Dalton Ross will moderate the conversation.

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You can now watch this virtual TWD:WB panel from NYCC...

-- Chris Hardwick: "Scott, now that we've seen the premiere, can you kind of refresh our memories, timeline-wise, uh, where World Beyond lines up with the other Walking Dead shows?"
Scott Gimple:
"You know, the - the pandemic and the scattered airings has kind of changed things a little bit, but essentially this show is contemporaneous with Walking Dead, and we know Fear the Walking Dead is a little earlier than both of these shows. But, yeah, I gotta do some new calculations with the pandemic, although, technically with Walking Dead's finale lining up with the premiere here, I think - I think we're all going to be okay."

AMC's The Walking Dead - World Beyond
New York Comic Con   Premiered on Oct 10, 2020

 

Edited by tv echo
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To be honest, I think the kids are leaving the most interesting place on the show.  I know, it's just a community, but that would be a unique take on the Walking Dead Universe, kids growing up in a safe but isolated community.  We've already seen the survival in the dead world approach.

When I first heard of this show, I though maybe we'd see Rick in the pilot and maybe as a semi-occurring guest character.  Apparently not, or maybe they'll stick him in there at the end.

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2 hours ago, rmontro said:

When I first heard of this show, I though maybe we'd see Rick in the pilot and maybe as a semi-occurring guest character.  Apparently not, or maybe they'll stick him in there at the end.

I'd bet $$ that this is exactly what happens. They'll dangle him like a carrot in front of us, then maybe have one scene with him as a cliffhanger. 

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond showrunner on that mysterious post-credits scene
By Dalton Ross October 25, 2020 
https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-world-beyond-wrong-end-of-a-telescope-post-credits-scene/

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[ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:] Now that they've gotten out of the school, what's coming up next for this group?
[MATT NEGRETE:]  Well, the episode really tees up something interesting for Elton. We got some glimpses of him. We revealed that he is claustrophobic and we see some flashes of a little boy hunkering down, looking very scared, and that's a little hint of what's to come in episode 5. So episode 5, I'll say, is a big Elton episode in which we learn a lot more about what went down with him in his past that has formed who he's become. So it's really a great emotional episode and I'm looking forward to everybody checking that out.

And what about that post-credits scene in which some zombie experimentation seems to be going on — and on a doctor from Portland?
What we're seeing in the coda is a glimpse at a new environment. We don't know where we are, but it's a new character, this woman who seems to be doing something very interesting with some empties, that seems very scientific based. We also see a glimpse of a photo of some people that include the scientists and the girls' father and they seem rather close. We also see that the empty that she seems to be studying is also alive as a person in this photo. So that implies that a lot of s---'s gone down, and it raises a lot more questions that we'll also be answering later on this season and into next season. A little bit of a tease of things to come.

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Aliyah Royale talks The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 1 - Exclusive interview
BY GIL MACIAS    OCT. 27, 2020
https://www.looper.com/268191/aliyah-royale-talks-the-walking-dead-world-beyond-season-1-exclusive-interview/ 

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Even though walkers scare you, after you signed that dotted line to star in World Beyond, did you have to go back and force yourself to watch some of the old seasons just to get a feel for what you were in for?
I looked at comics. I rewatched episodes of the show. That's how I discovered my forever affinity for the man that is Negan and his sidekick Lucille. I think that's what inspired me to name my weapon Shiloh. Negan's relationship with Lucille is like, "This is a person. This isn't a weapon. What are you talking about? This isn't a bat." This is a legit character in the show. I love that. But once I signed on, I was ready and willing. And the fear that you see on the show, every single scene where I'm afraid, it's 100% authentic.

You mentioned Negan. The Walking Dead has had some pretty ruthless villains throughout the years: The Governor, Negan, Alpha. In World Beyond, Julia Ormond plays Elizabeth, who is the big baddie of the season. Where would you rank her compared to Negan and all the rest? And how is she different from those villains?
Elizabeth is head honcho. I'd say it's all about finesse with her. Negan doesn't have a problem being very messy in front of everyone. But Elizabeth, she's calm, she's calculated, and she doesn't mind playing the long game. She will come to you like an ally, like a friend, like a kindred spirit. And then you won't see what comes next, and I like that about her. Her finesse is really incredible. I think she's at the top just because of execution. She's got an entire army behind her; you know what I mean? That's next-level organization.
*  *  *
Obviously, she's part of the CRM, that mysterious helicopter group that abducted Rick Grimes when we last saw him. Everyone has been wondering who they are and what they're up to. I just want to know, aside from that link to the original series, can you tease us about Easter eggs that'll be sprinkled throughout this season? Are we going to hear familiar names or see past Walking Dead characters show up?
We definitely have a bunch of Easter eggs. I think that's what's incredible about World Beyond, is being able to answer some of the questions that were presented in other series like The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. That three-ring helicopter that took off with Rick, what are they about? What do they really want? We're all working towards a cure. The difference is, "Who's working towards it for the good and to help?" versus, "Who's working towards it to control?" And we find that out.
*  *  *
Because of COVID-19, season 11 of The Walking Dead got pushed to next year. World Beyond is now in that prime October time slot this year. Does that intimidate you a little bit? This universe has a large fanbase who have certain expectations. Do you worry if fans may or may not embrace this new series? Some people say there's zombie fatigue, so what's your sales pitch for those people? What does this show have that the other ones don't? And what's the reason why they should tune in to this show?z
It's so funny that you say that because no, I had not thought about World Beyond taking over that time slot in the prime October season [Laughs]. I think everything has its proper time and place. And World Beyond is presenting this all-new perspective. I mean, yeah, you have a young-adult cast and some people could be like, "Oh, what will I have in common with these kids? Is it going to be less gritty and gory and cool as the other shows?" You want the grit? You want the gore? We have it. You want the storylines that you can invest in, and the characters that you can identify with? We have it. We've got something for everyone. And I think you're seeing a new part of the Walking Dead universe and a story that hasn't been told before.

The other side of that is we don't see the world as dead. We grew up with the apocalypse being our normal. So it's not like "Oh, I miss the world as it was before." Like, "No, this is how we grew up. This is how we understand the world." And we don't see it as these creatures that are lurking around every corner and we could die at any minute. We're aware of the risks, aware of the danger. And we would rather be in the field, figuring out ourselves and living our life than at home afraid. And I think that's really powerful to see.

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond showrunner on new mystery stranger
By Dalton Ross November 01, 2020
https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-world-beyond-madman-across-the-water-showrunner-matt-negrete/ 

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Two big things happen here right at the end of the episode. Let’s start with big thing number 1: Hope realizes that the pregnant woman she shot and killed is Elton’s mother. She just let go of this big secret by telling her sister about what really happened that night, so naturally that begs the question: Will she tell Elton?
MATT NEGRETE:
There's obviously going to be a lot weighing on Hope just coming off of the end of episode 105. She has grown so much closer to Elton out of everyone in the group. She has this connection with Elton, they both see the world the same way. They both think that humanity doesn't have much of an opportunity to survive past the next decade or two. And they're odd kind of soulmates in a way. And it's just, of course, as the nature of things go — the closer you get to someone, it's always that's when the wrench is thrown into the works. And that's what happens here with Hope. So, she's going to have a lot to kind of process and deal with.

And I think that she knows if she were to come clean to Elton, that would change their relationship. Because if you think about really what happened that night, it's really not just that she killed Elton's mother, but it's that this woman that Elton idolizes killed her mother. So there's a lot at play here. It's not just about her relationship with Elton. It's about the whole reason that Elton was out here on this journey being about his mother, and him holding her up, and wanting to finish this book that she wrote. And everything that informs the way he sees the world is from his parents. And to find out that his mother is not who he thought she was, it's going to be a huge thing for him. So, I think that's everything. Those are the things that she's weighing at the end of the episode.

So as she's weighing these things, whether she's going to tell him or not, how in the short term is that going to impact that relationship?
Hope is someone who reacts in a way that's kind of different than a lot of people. She doesn't really necessarily have a high view of her own self in a lot of ways. And so I think for her coming off of this revelation, she's obviously going to have a lot of guilt, but this will impact their relationship in that she's going to make some decisions that actually might make herself feel even worse in a way. And that that's born out of the guilt she feels. And so what we'll see coming up in episode 6 and perhaps beyond that is her sort of using this information to kind of torture herself in a way. And it's because that's what she thinks she deserves, but she also thinks that she owes Elton quite a bit. So she's going to follow a course that kind of accomplishes both of these things.

Let's get to that other big thing at the end of the episode. The group hears this noise in the woods, assumes it's an empty, but it's actually someone else with a stick, possibly a weapon of some sort. What can you tell us at this point about this mystery person?
This is a mystery person that will potentially be around for longer than an episode. And we're at the halfway point of season 1 and the presence of this character coming in is really going to change the trajectory of these next five episodes in a way that I think is going to be irrevocable. Things are going to happen in a way that are ignited by the presence of this character. And there's not going to be any going back. There really are a lot of dominoes that we've been setting up this season, and I will say the presence of this character is going to send that first domino falling. And I'm excited for people to see where it all goes.

Okay, this could be absolutely nothing, but why have Hope cut her hand putting together this boat? Because things like that don’t usually happen for no reason. Is that something that is going to play out in the future in some way. or was it just to show them having trouble assembling this contraption?
It really was showing sort of the difficulty that they were having. And it was also, as we were in production, in my mind, Elton is the smallest person of the group. And in actuality, Alexa is tiny herself and Nicolas was also growing exponentially throughout the season and between episodes. And so by this point we realized on the day that he's actually taller and a lot larger than Alexa was. So we didn't want the audience to beg the question of, "Why doesn't she go under and do it?" And it had to be one person, it had been kind of the smallest person in the group, other than the person who just injured her hand. So that was a real reason behind that.

So, you're doing this pattern on the show where you're dispensing a lot of backstories through flashbacks on one character while you're dropping hints and teases about another character without the flashbacks yet. So we get the Elton deeper dive this episode, but we also learned that Huck was found floating down river, the arm's broken, she's all screwed up. I assume we're going to get some flashbacks at some point to see how she ended up in that state, right?
The story that we're going to be telling for her is more of an emotional story that can kind of fill in some of the pieces. It's not going to fill up all the pieces, but with a lot of these flashbacks, it's not necessarily a linear story that tells the whole story. So, I think for Huck, it's actually going to be a surprising flashback that's coming up that I think people are going to think is super cool. And we're going to see a different part of her own version of the night the sky fell, but it's not necessarily even that. It's just a glimpse at the beginning of things going wrong in the apocalypse. So, her flashback will predate the rest, but we're going to be setting some interesting things up for her that will help sort of tell the story of how she might've ended up there.

What's her real name, Matt?
I will tell you that we'll learn her name in the next few episodes. Yeah. It's funny. Annet, when we were shooting the pilot, kept asking me that. "What is her real name?" And we both wanted a name that might sound a little like, "Oh, okay." But I don't know. We didn't want something that was super expected, but something that just kind of made sense. And yeah, I'll leave it at that, but I'll definitely say that we'll be learning her name before too long.
*  *  *
What can you tell me about what's coming up next week?
Our group is going to be dealing with the arrival of this mysterious stranger that showed up at the end. And as I said before, he's really going to introduce something new, I will say, to the proceedings. And there will be an element of danger that comes along with the arrival of this character.

I will also say that what happens in the next episode is really going to set the course for the rest of the season. In a way that things might get a little darker than they have been in the first half. And really, the danger so far has been them not knowing how to deal with the world, but now they're getting a better sense of things. And we're starting to see them actually kill walkers now. There's going to be an added threat. That could be a human element that they're going to have to deal with soon. And that's going to add a new sort of dangerous layer to things.

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond Reveals New Mystery Character
By CAMERON BONOMOLO - November 1, 2020 
https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-who-is-new-character-percy-ted-sutherland-madman-across-the-water/ 

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Just as Hope figures out a shocking revelation about past trauma, the four teens are disturbed by rustling in the woods. From the darkness steps a stranger, who brandishes their weapon as the episode cuts to black.

This character is Percy, played by Ted Sutherland. The Rise and Doom Patrol actor was announced as a cast member for the Walking Dead spinoff in November 2019.
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In November 8 episode "Shadow Puppets," Percy cuts a deal with the group leading them into a dangerous situation. Felix is suspicious of the new arrival claiming to be robbed by another pair of strangers, but Iris is confident the sextet can handle the threat if it means continuing their mission to rescue dad Leo Bennett (Joe Holt).

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'The Walking Dead' fans are convinced Rick may appear on 'TWDWB' finale. Sorry, he won't.
Kirsten Acuna Oct 30, 2020
https://www.insider.com/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-will-rick-grimes-appear-season-one-finale 

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Some "The Walking Dead" fans are wondering if Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is making a special appearance on spinoff series "TWD: World Beyond" after the actor's name appeared in the credits for an upcoming episode on IMDB, an entertainment online database. 

That isn't the case. 

Friday, an AMC representative confirmed to Insider the listing was inaccurate and that Lincoln will not appear on "TWDWB" finale.
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Fans noticed Andrew Lincoln's name listed in the credits for "TWDWB" season one finale earlier this week.

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A screenshot that Insider took on Thursday morning showed Andrew Lincoln credited as reprising his "TWD" role of Rick Grimes on "TWDWB." IMDB, screenshot via Insider
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Adding fuel to the fire, was a previous social media comment from "TWDWB" star Nico Tortorella.

While responding to fans on Instagram during the show's premiere on October 4, Tortorella teased they shared a scene with Lincoln.

When asked, "Who is your favorite person to have scenes with?" the actor said "Andrew Lincoln 😉" with a wink emoji. Fans pointed to that moment as potential proof the listing could be true.
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An individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Insider Thursday that Lincoln does not appear on "TWDWB" finale. The individual expressed concern fans would be disappointed if they expected to see Rick in the episode only for him to not appear. 

At the time Insider reached out to AMC for comment Thursday, Lincoln's name was still visibly credited on IMDB. By late Thursday, the false credit was starting to spread around #TWDFamily community a little more. 

By Friday, Lincoln's name was removed from the listing.

An AMC representative reached out to Insider on Friday morning with a brief note that the IMDB listing was updated as it was "not accurate."
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When speaking with Insider in September about the state of "TWD" universe, "TWD" chief content officer Scott Gimple told Insider that while "TWDWB" serves as a bridge to the Rick Grimes' movies, he cautioned that fans shouldn't expect to see Rick anytime soon on the show.

"Rick is not going to be walking out from around the corner," Gimple told Insider. "This does start to sort of paint the world that Rick is somehow involved in."

A Rick appearance would probably help viewer perception of the series. Reviews for the show haven't exactly been glowing. It currently sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. Insider's own review referred to "TWDWB" as "a placeholder until the first Rick Grimes movie(s)."

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(SPOILERS) Inside The Walking Dead: World Beyond: The Characters' Motivations
The Walking Dead   Nov 1, 2020

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The cast and creators break down why Iris, Hope, Elton and Silas feel compelled to leave their safe lives for a perilous journey.

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‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’ Showrunner Matt Negrete on Expanding the ‘Walking Dead’ Universe
BY CHRISTINA RADISH      NOVEMBER 2, 2020
https://collider.com/the-walking-dead-world-beyond-matt-negrete-interview/ 

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What have been the most surprising challenges or opportunities that you’ve found in telling this new story that’s also attached to such a substantial existing universe and mythology?
NEGRETE:
That’s a good question. The biggest challenge of this show is really creating a world that feels like it’s part of the expanded universe but still stands on its own. There are these rules that exist for this community that we’re starting to learn about, which is the Civic Republic, and we’re trying to figure out how to develop this world while getting the audience to care about this core group of characters. That was a challenge. Ten years, and now going into 11 years, on The Walking Dead and six years of Fear the Walking Dead is a lot of episodes of television and you wanna be able to do something that’s different enough that it doesn’t feel like something that has been done before. After that many episodes of television, it’s hard. So, making sure that it felt like the show fit in the universe but also felt different, finding that balance, is probably the most challenging aspect.

Do you have times that you think of a really cool idea but then realize that it would completely blow up something else that you can’t touch?
NEGRETE:
Yeah, that’s happened quite a bit. That’s one of the things that Scott Gimple, the chief content officer for The Walking Dead is really great at. Because he’s on top of what’s happening on all of the different shows and what’s in development, if he reads something early on or you have a talk with him about what’s gonna be in the story that you’re breaking now and I’ll pitch to him, he can say, “Oh, that’s a little bit like what they’re doing on Fear right now, so what if we tweak it to this,” or we’ll talk about how to make it different, to make sure that we’re not repeating each other. That does happen quite a bit, especially after a total of 17 seasons of television that exists now.

Do you also have to have conversations about the endgame for The Walking Dead, now that they’re building toward ending that show, along with the future and the movies? How much does the long-term plans for this universe affect the current plans for your show?
NEGRETE:
Yeah, it definitely does. That’s definitely an aspect of it. Scott is very open and honest with what his plans are for the universe and how things are shaping up in different aspects, whether it be with the movie, what they’re doing on The Walking Dead, or what they’re doing on Fear. There is a cumulative aspect to a lot of this. Every once in awhile, there’ll be a tweak to something where it’s like, “Oh, instead of working towards this, it’s gonna be a little bit more towards something that’s a little different. Not by much but we’ll have to make some adjustments as we go.” For the most part, we’ve been running a straight course towards a certain angle, at least specifically to this show, and it’s one that I’m really excited about.
*  *  *
When World Beyond was originally announced, it was announced as a two-season series but as you’ve gotten deeper into it and now even finished a first season, have you talked about or thought about whether it could grow beyond that? Is there a possibility of more seasons, or would it be a situation where you could explore more of it in something like Tales of the Walking Dead?
NEGRETE:
I’ll say it’s all of those things. Right now, the plan is for a two-year season, so we’ve been writing towards an ending at the end of Season 2 and that’s what we’re gonna keep doing. If AMC’s plans change, there is a part of me that feels like I could write these characters for much longer than that. If not, then creatively I think that the audience will feel satisfied with where things end, at the end of Season 2. There is a possibility of these characters appearing on Tales of the Walking Dead, whether it’s a glimpse at their past or an opportunity to see where they are in the future, after the show ends. I think all of those things are definitely possibilities.
*  *  *
What most interests you in the story that you’re telling in World Beyond with these characters? What excites you about the concept and what you’re able to do with the storytelling with this series?
NEGRETE:
The thing that is most exciting to me is that World Beyond is a show about growing up. The situation that our characters are in, in which they’re going from those places of safety out into the world, what we’re gonna see, in Season 1 and into Season 2, is that they have to grow up really fast. I would even say that, by the end of Season 1, there’s gonna be aspects of these characters that we may not even recognize because of how fast they’ve had to change and how much they’ve had to adapt. This is about survival and what you’re willing to do to achieve your goals. The opportunity to have each character be challenged in a very personal, meaningful way and have them react and take these decisive actions, it’s gonna change them and they’re gonna evolve.

The exciting thing for me is that, as our characters evolve, so will the show. Stepping back and looking at just the first season as a whole, it’s really about starting off at this place of innocence and, with each episode, we’re gonna see these characters grow up and we’re gonna see the stakes just keep escalating. It’s really about hitting them with the thing after thing after thing and obstacle after obstacle. The satisfaction is having the audience along for this journey and seeing that change, and seeing these decisions inform who these characters are and who they’re gonna become. The idea of compressing that into two seasons versus something like 11 just means that that each story has to be very specific and everything has to stack up in a certain way. As you’ll see this season, the first half of the season is really about setting up the dominoes, and then the back half is really about knocking them down and seeing what happens after that. That’s what I’m really excited for people to see.

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Having watched up to date this is where i reckon the series is going.

Dodgy military lady from the CRM mentions having a daughter, now i did think the daughter could well be Al's girlfriend from Fear, but i've changed my mind, i think the daughter is Huck, and Huck is at least partly working for the CRM.

Huck goes off alone at the end of episode 5, ostensibly to scout ahead, but could it be to meet with the CRM and give them an update. The lady doctor at the research facility we see in the end credits scenes seems to know the girls are coming. Now given that the kids are completely un prepared for the outside world, how would the CRM be sure they would get there unless they knew that the kids were being escorted? Huck also suggests to Felix that he takes the boys back to the university while she carries on with the girls.

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13 hours ago, Superclam said:

This is as good a theory as any. If Huck was really just out scouting, that'll make for a pretty boring season. 

It doesn't necessarily put Huck on the side of the bad guys, she probably wouldn't know that the CRM were intending to murder 9000 innocent people at the Campus colony, she may just think she's keeping the girls safe and helping then reunite with their father.

It was hard to say initially whether the dodgy CRM lady motivated the girls to leave on their quest because she simply felt sorry for them and didn't want to kill them, or whether their quest was part of a greater plan, and she needs them to travel to the research facility where their father is for some reason yet unknown. (but if that's the case, why not just take them there herself, she has a helicopter FFS).

After the last end credit scene it looks as if the quest is part of the CRM plan, so if that is the case, you'd think that they'd have some insurance to make sure that kids totally unprepared for the outside post apocalyptic world, actually got there. having someone on the inside to escort them would make sense.

It could just be that the writers needed to send huck away to create a dynamic where Felix and the kids have to try and retrieve the lorry on their own, had huck been there then Iris wouldn't have been in building with Felix, huck would, and maybe things would have played out differently with magic Tony and puppet boy.

Anyway, CRM lady tells us she has a daughter, and like Chekov's gun, that will be significant whether the daughter is huck or not, i think it's also significant that we haven't had any flash backs of huck yet. also, you'd think that an organisation so ruthlessly efficient that they'd  commit mass murder to facilitate their plan wouldn't simply leave it to chance that some inexperienced kids will make a dangerous cross country journey if said journey was integral to said plan.

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond showrunner on that big reveal
By Dalton Ross    November 22, 2020
https://ew.com/tv/walking-dead-world-beyond-huck-elizabeth-kublek-sky-is-a-graveyard/

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[ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:] All right. Final scene. We learn that Huck is working [with] Kublek. What can you tell us about this scene?
[MATT NEGRETE:]
Yeah, that's a big revelation there at the end of the episode. They referenced dad's watch, which seems to imply that there's a mother-daughter relationship there. I will say that we'll get some answers in the coming episode before the end of the season. There's obviously going to be a lot more we're going to be exploring in season 2. But I think the thing for the audience to take away from the revelation of who Huck is, is that there really have been clues about how she sees the world and how she operates and how she's willing to do some pretty horrible things for what she believes is the greater good.

I think that if people want to go back and look at some of the things she said over this whole season, there are definite clues in there that can kind of pinpoint her philosophy of the world. I think it also might recontextualize the Huck flashbacks we saw in episode 7. It just seemed like she was willing to do a horrible thing for what she saw as the greater good, so it's an example of that. But looking at those flashbacks, I think that audiences may find some other clues, let’s say, that may hint at maybe more of an origin story about how she became who she is and that there'll be more blanks we'll be filling very soon.

Can you confirm that Huck and Kublek are mother and daughter?
I will say that, if nothing else, there seems to be a mother-daughter relationship. There are more things to unfold there, but they referenced dad's watch, so it sort of leads one to believe that there's some sort of a familial connection happening there

Then who or what is the asset?
Oh, that's a great question. We will get clarity on that in the next episode. That's going to be a big question lingering over the proceedings, particularly in episode 9. But I will say that we'll have an answer to that question as we roll into the finale of season 1.

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1 hour ago, Superclam said:

Yeah, I watched it yesterday, and the general word I have is "disappointing."

If I was feeling very generous, I could say that the second part offered the merest glimmer of hope, hope that S2 may just be even slightly interesting. I really should know by now the perils of living in the world of fantasy 😞

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I can agree that it could be interesting. They've teased this CRM stuff and Rick for a long time. They could write something interesting, they just haven't. And I will also say, even if I get flamed - I think the acting on WB is pretty decent, even the kids. It's the writing that needs serious help. 

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48 minutes ago, Superclam said:

And I will also say, even if I get flamed - I think the acting on WB is pretty decent, even the kids. It's the writing that needs serious help. 

Hasn’t it been ever thus on TWD franchises? You won’t get flamed from me, despite some people getting the wrong idea about our  ‘character assassinations’ on the show, I haven’t had a problem with the acting. Apart that is from the Huck actress, she just really annoys me, yet she may well be doing things exactly as is wanted from her. I’m certain that the originals from the main show have grimaced at some of the crap they’ve been expected to put on screen. Some of the nonsense that ‘The Beautiful One’ has uttered over the years beggars belief. 🙄

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