Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 and 2 Blu Ray Review (Acorn Media)

The Walking Dead: Dead City is a 2023 horror television series co-written, executive produced, and created by Eli Jorne (The Walking Dead, Heels, Dummy, Blunt Talk, and Wilfred). It was directed by Michael E. Satrazemis (The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Tales of the Walking Dead, and Fear The Walking Dead), Edward Ornelas (Grey’s Anatomy, The Resident, and NCIS: New Orleans), Kevin Dowling (Tulsa King, The Strain, and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), Gandja Monteiro (The Chi, Wednesday, and Agatha All Along), Loren Yaconelli (Animal Kingdom, Shameless, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond), and Lauren Cohan. It’s based on the graphic novels from author and executive producer Robert Kirkman (Outcast, Invincible, The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon). It’s executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd (Terminator franchise, Aliens, The Abyss, Tremors, Raising Cain, Hulk franchise, The Punisher franchise, and Bad Dreams). It’s a spin-off from The Walking Dead featuring two of it’s biggest characters. They are currently working on Season 3. Negan Smith (played by: Jeffery Dean Morgan from The Walking Dead, Supernatural, The Losers, Rampage, The Boys, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Watchmen) and Maggie Rhee (played by: Lauren Cohan from The Walking Dead, The Boy, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Supernatural, Chuck, Catwoman: Hunted, Death Race 2, and Mile 22) are reunited after a troubled history. They are headed to what’s left of New York City. The destroyed crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made the big apple their own dangerous world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror. Can they finally put all of their differences aside and learn to trust one another to survive these blood thirsty zombies???? Dead City is probably the best spin-off for The Walking Dead franchise. It brings back two of the best characters from the universe. It elevates it’s post apocalyptic vibe from the previous efforts. It has the same atmosphere as the original series especially compared to all of the other spin-off shows. Jeffery Dean Morgan is easily the best villain for The Walking Dead as Negan Smith. It’s great to see him get his own series after everything that went down from the original. Jeffery Dean Morgan kills it when it comes to this role and he’s completely demented but he’s changing for the good after all of his previous experiences. Lauren Cohan is a true survivor as Maggie Rhee. She’s suffered some massive tragedies in the past which made her even stronger than before. She’s excellent in this, I never expected her to get her own series after The Walking Dead but it’s a nice addition. It’s interesting to see these former rivals paired up together for Dead City. The underrated character actor Zeljko Ivanek (The Sender, Donnie Brasco, Hannibal, 24, OZ, Damages, Heroes, and Homicide: Life on the Street) steals the damn show here as The Croat. The talented supporting cast includes Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), Aimee Garcia (Dexter), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead), Mahina Napoleon (NCIS: Hawai’i), Gaius Charles (Friday Night Lights), Logan Kim (Ghostbusters franchise), Lisa Emery (Ozark), Dascha Polanco (Orange Is the New Black), Keir Gilchrist (It Follows), Jake Weary (Animal Kingdom), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), Raúl Castillo (Smile 2), and Karina Ortiz (Orange Is the New Black). The character development is a little different compared to The Walking Dead, it gets straight to the point. Some of the main new people introduced in this doesn’t last that long. The zombies are still around but they are more in the background at times. It has more of a psychological drama feel to it rather than pure horror. It still has plenty of action, violence, and suspense. Season 2 is much better than 1 so it just keeps getting better as it goes on. I haven’t really paid much attention to the Walking Dead universe in awhile but this was a nice refresher to it, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Acorn Media! These (2.00:1) transfers on all episodes look great in HD for this home video release. It’s one of the better looking television series these days. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on this 4 disc set. The audio really stands out when it comes to extreme action and suspense once all hell breaks loose. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the apocalypse is elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH and Spanish subtitles. Season 1 has the little over 35 minute “Wondercon 2023 Panel”. It features Chris Hardwick, Eli Jorne, Lauren Cohan, and Gaius Charles plus a special video from Jeffrey Dean Morgan that couldn’t be there. They talk about the concept. They chat about the returning characters. They don’t really bring up anything new here but it’s still a fun interaction. Season 2 has the almost 35 minutes of “Episode Insiders” which expands on all of the moments from Season 2. It has a variety of interviews from the cast and crew. It’s a very detailed and inside look into this television production. It has the almost 26 minutes of “Behind the Scenes – Show Me More” episode. It has all kinds of interviews with the cast and crew. It has some behind the scenes footage from the set and clips from the show. They chat about the new stories, concepts, and characters from this follow up season. They focus on bringing back in the iconic bat Lucille. Lots of information is discussed in this. It’s available everywhere in the U.K. including select spots in the states, CHECK IT OUT!!!!