AMC Gives 'The Walking Dead' Season 8 an Early Renewal
There will be MORE blood!
"The Walking Dead" Season 7 premieres this coming Sunday, October 23, and AMC usually waits to renew the next season until after the current season starts. But not this year. During Sunday's special two-hour retrospective, "The Walking Dead: The Journey So Far," it was revealed that Season 8 is officially a go. "Talking Dead," the post-episode therapy session hosted by quick-witted Chris Hardwick, was also renewed for its seventh season in 2017.
It's not shocking -- TWD is a monster hit, and even if the ratings go down in Season 7 for whatever reason it's still kicking every other show's booty in the 18-49 demo. (Last season's premiere had an audience of about 14.63 million, which was down from the Season 5 premiere's 17.29 million and Season 4's 16.11 million. Considering all of the cliffhanger hype about the Season 7 premiere, we're more likely to see Episode 1 go high than low.)
Every season to date has started in October, so it stands to reason that Season 8 will premiere in October 2017. Showrunner Scott M. Gimple gets to keep his job, and the series gets to keep the 16-episode format it has had since Season 3. Season 8 will also begin with the show's 100th episode. AMC president Charlie Collier had some Negan-quoting fun in his statement on the renewal:
"Eeny, meeny, miny, more. What a joy to partner with Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple and some of the hardest-working people in television to bring 'The Walking Dead' to the fans. And, most important, thanks to those fans for breathing life into this remarkable series right along with us."
The Season 7 premiere (written by Gimple and directed by Greg Nicotero) is titled "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" (Dr. Jenner cameo right in the title!) airing at 9 p.m. October 23; it will be followed by a 90-minute special edition of "Talking Dead" featuring a dozen cast members in a live ep from Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Prepare your heart for the Episode 1 carnage with this look-back at the Gleggie love story:
Want more stuff like this? Like us on Facebook.
