There’s No Stopping ‘The Walking Dead,’ Even With Star Departures & Comic Book End

You can’t slow down The Walking Dead no matter how much you try to kill ’em Walkers.

With the show experiencing cast member losses (Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan in season 9 and Danai Gurira for the upcoming 10th season), steady viewership decline, and not to mention the abrupt end of its comic book source, AMC still thinks that The Walking Dead can stand on its own and continue airing for the foreseeable future. The zombie horde will keep on coming.

Ratings Are Not a Problem

Speaking to The Wrap, AMC Programming Chief David Madden shared his optimistic vision for the future of the decade-long zombie series. “Once ‘Game of Thrones’ is technically off the air, it’s the No. 2 show on TV,” Madden said. “You don’t sneeze at it being No. 2 out of the three billion shows that are on TV.” Although the series has finally let go of Rick Grimes, The Walking Dead remains to be a powerful program that will never cease to tell the story of the zombie apocalypse. Rick’s fake death wasn’t that much of a threat to the show, after all, viewership drops be damned.

“The episode that followed his departure dropped 1% from the previous episode,” said Madden. “That, we thought, was stunningly strong in terms of a hold. I think the show still has—with Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan—a lot of characters who are truly beloved on the show.”

And with regards to the downward spiral that every season seem to get every year, The Walking Dead remains to be AMC and cable’s most-watched Sunday night show. But after the refreshing ninth season (all thanks to new showrunner Angela Kang), the future is bright for Rick’s remnant group of survivors, as confirmed by Madden himself. “I’m not saying the show will go 20 seasons, but I’m not saying it won’t,” he says.

Gene Page/AMC

Outliving the ‘Walking Dead’ Comic

Hardcore fans of the original Walking Dead comics were shocked to find out that creator Robert Kirkman decided to end its 16-year arc. Many thought that it could affect the show, but Madden assures that the death of the comic book source material will not affect the show’s future run. “We’ve diverged from the comic long ago. We’re now telling our own story. I don’t think, either in the show’s mind or in Kirkman’s mind, the end of the comic book really affects the plan for the show,” Madden explained.

The new Walking Dead spin-off attests to Madden’s promise. The currently untitled show begins production on Monday and will focus on the first generation of kids to come-of-age in the zombie apocalypse. Madden is unsure of what to call it; especially if the show will sport the “Walking Dead” title like that of Fear the Walking Dead. “The new show is really on its own separate path. It’s a different feel and different tone,” Madden said. “It won’t look anything like the other two shows.”

If anything, the show never fails to churn out compelling stories with its current roster of characters, so it looks like we’ll see more of the zombie apocalypse through AMC’s eyes. Aside from the third Walking Dead spin-off, we’re also pretty excited for Rick Grimes’ upcoming movie at Universal. Sure, his fake death bummed the hell out of us, but it’s good to know that there’s more to the Helicopter people’s story than we think.

The Walking Dead Season 10 premieres Sunday, October 6th at 9/8c on AMC.