Daniella Pineda Joins Anthology Spinoff Series Tales Of The Walking Dead

"The Walking Dead" never really ends. AMC's one-time ratings juggernaut is currently working its way through its multi-part final season, but the world of the show is set to live on in a spin-off titled "Tales of The Walking Dead." According to Variety, the upcoming series has just cast Daniella Pineda.

Pineda was most recently seen as bounty hunter Faye Valentine in Netflix's short-lived "Cowboy Bebop" adaptation. She'll also be featured in the upcoming film "Jurassic World: Dominion," reprising the role of paleo-veterinarian Dr. Zia Rodriguez. You may have also seen Pineda on The CW's "The Originals," in which she played Sophie Deveraux.

Pineda joins an already-announced cast for "Tales of the Walking Dead" that includes Parker Posey, Terry Crews, and "ER" actor Anthony Edwards, alongside "Hacks" actor Poppy Liu and comedian Jillian Bell. "Tales of The Walking Dead" is set to be an anthology series, so it's unclear which of these actors will share screen time with one another. The show will also reportedly include some characters from the original "Walking Dead" series.

A six-episode season of "Tales" was ordered last fall, and it's set to debut on AMC and AMC+ sometime this summer. It's the third major spin-off from the flagship series, following "Fear the Walking Dead" and "The Walking Dead: World Beyond." While neither of those have matched the massive response of the original, which broke cable viewership records during its prime, "Fear" has had a successful run and continues to chug along with seven seasons to date.

My first instinct as an erstwhile fan of the original series (I dipped out relatively early, along with my girl Beth Greene) is to write this new show off as a business decision rather than a creative one, but an anthology exploration of the world actually sounds interesting. Some of the series' best episodes have felt like self-contained stories, reaching emotional high points and pulling off a satisfying ending in just an hour. "Tales of The Walking Dead" seems like a great chance to exercise that talent, and — if execs choose to — to spotlight a variety of directors and writers as well.

"Tales of The Walking Dead" may end up being a creative standout within the franchise, but it still sounds like a move towards this once-thrilling franchise turning into an IP-generating machine. When the series was in development in 2020, AMC Networks COO Ed Carroll deemed it a "test kitchen" with episodes that could double as backdoor pilots for other spinoffs, per Variety. At least it'll be a test kitchen with a great cast.

"Tales of the Walking Dead" is set to premiere on AMC and AMC+ this summer.