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“The Walking Dead” has many miles to go before the walkers — and everyone else — call it a night. That was the message of the retrospective panel on the franchise at Mipcom to mark the 15th anniversary of the TV series’ premiere on AMC Network.

Scott Gimple, writer, executive producer and the steward of the “Walking Dead” universe, said the most recent spinoff series, “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” is but one example of the additional material to come from the universe based on the graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman. “Daryl Dixon” bowed in 2023 and was renewed in July for a final fourth season that is in production in Spain.

Gimple likened the storytelling possibilities to the intricate canon of stories and characters assembled by DC and Marvel in the comic book realm. “It was all one story. It went in all sorts of different directions,” Gimple said. “Even with characters who have done so many things, we can put them in different worlds where they have different challenges and evolve them through these challenges.”

The stars of “Daryl Dixon,” Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, were on hand for the panel was AMC Networks president Dan McDermott. The 40-minute session was moderated by self-proclaimed superfan Aisha Tyler, who directed four episodes of “The Walking Dead” and has appeared in spinoff series “Fear the Walking Dead.” “The Walking Dead” mothership series ran 11 seasons, concluding in 2022.

Tyler told the crowd she’s always trumpeted her love of “Walking Dead” even among those who look down their nose at genre fare. “It’s not abut the zombies, it’s about the peple. This is a show asking big questions about what it means to be human,” Tyler said. (That said, there were performers costumed in gory detail as the show’s famous “walkers” lurching around the hallway outside the Grand Auditorium in the Palais des Festivals where the session was held.)

McDermott echoed Gimple’s faith in the Walking Dead universe’s stamina. “Daryl Dixon” revolves around the story that begins when Reedus’ longtime fan-favorite “Walking Dead” character winds up in France where he encounters an entirely new dynamic among resistance movements et al.

“It’s quite possible we could see this group up here 15 years from now,” he said. “There are many more continents to visit. It’s about how [the characters] evolve over time. It’s really exciting to see how far we can take this.” Gimple added that taking “Walking Dead” stalwart characters to new lands such as France and Spain opens up a treasure box of storytelling possibilities. “In a lot of ways, [the locations] give the story to us,” Gimple said.

McBride noted that the emotional tone of “Daryl Dixon” has been markedly different for her character, Carole Peletier, who remains back in the U.S. searching for Daryl. But Peletier endured one tragedy after another during her 11 seasons on “Walking Dead.”

“She is a little bit lighter. I like getting to explore that for her. It’s different going to work ehen you can laugh. When carole’s laughing it’s different going to work,” McBride said.

Tyler pressed Reedus on the physical nature of his job. “I’ve had so many real black eyes on the show that Scott has to write them in the script from time to time,” Reedus said. “I loved shooting Georgia — you were just drenched. It was so humid there. It’s part of the show….It’s very physically demanding. We all care so much about it. It’s just part of the job.”

The panel was introduced by AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan. She noted that AMC executives were cautioned back in 2010 when the series premiered on Halloween night that they should have moderate expectations for the ratings. After all, it was a genre thriller, and a zombie apocalypse thriller at that. “We were told it was a niche of a niche,” Dolan said. “It turned out to be quite a niche.”