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On the eve of 7th season premiere, AMC reanimates ‘The Walking Dead’ for an 8th

By Christine Persaud October 18, 2016

The Walking Dead Season 7 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

While at least one main cast member will be done by the end of the season 7 premiere episode of The Walking Dead, others will live on for some time, as AMC has officially renewed the series for an eighth season, set to premiere in late 2017, Variety reports.

The renewal surprises no one, considering that The Walking Dead is a ratings pull for AMC, and has a massive legion of loyal fans. The season 6 finale, which aired in March, reportedly brought in 18.4 million viewers, based on Nielsen numbers for live+3, making it the No. 1 TV show among adults aged 18-49.

The eighth season, which will most certainly involve a host of new cast members and some noticeably missing faces, will include 16 episodes, and will continue to be followed up by the post-show talk show, Talking Dead, hosted by Chris Hardwick.

It’s clear AMC has high hopes for its upcoming season 7 premiere. Set to air this Sunday, October 23, it will finally resolve a six-month cliffhanger over which main cast member gets clobbered to death by Negan and his barbed-wire bat Lucille. A special two-hour retrospective on the show aired this past Sunday was aimed primarily at those who haven’t yet watched the series, and appeared to be an attempt to get more viewers geared up not just for the season premiere, but for getting on board with the show on the whole. In addition to the retrospective, AMC is also running a marathon of past episodes, making it easy for non-fans to binge their way right through, and onto a live season 7.

While it seems like a no-brainer (pun intended) for the show to be renewed, as with any great series, The Walking Dead will eventually have to come to an end. Sometimes, it’s better to end things on a high note, as was done with AMC sister series Breaking Bad. So the renewal news is a big sigh of relief for die-hards who may have been a little worried, and weren’t quite ready to say goodbye just yet.

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Christine Persaud

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Tales of the Walking Dead is a refreshing take for the zombie franchise

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As the original The Walking Dead series gears up for its 11th and final season commencing October 2, fans have been inundated with announcements of new and upcoming spinoffs to keep the franchise alive. The most recent is the six-episode anthology series Tales of the Walking Dead. What’s most surprising about this series, which aired its six-episode first season on AMC in mid-August through to late September, is that, unlike others such as Fear the Walking Dead and Walking Dead: World Beyond, you don’t need to watch the original to truly appreciate the show and understand what’s going on. These are standalone, compartmentalized stories with no continuity or crossovers with the original beyond the dystopian state of the world…and the team behind it.

Like the other Walking Dead series, the undead roam the streets, looking to satiate their voracious appetites for human flesh. But the characters and stories are completely unique not only from the main show, but from one another as well. Each episode has its own distinct look and feel, fitting into different genres that will make you laugh, cry, wince, and jump out of your seat. Since there are no connections, you can watch them in any order as well.
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Tales of the Walking Dead trailer shows new zombie adventures

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The Walking Dead franchise is adding more zombie adventures to its universe with the addition of Tales of the Walking Dead, the new spinoff series set to premiere on AMC and AMC+. Scott M. Gimple, a co-creator of Tales, shared the first trailer from the spinoff in front of the lively crowd at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con. Also on hand for the announcement were showrunner/executive producer Channing Powell, director/executive producer Michael Satrazemis, and some cast members, including Terry Crews and Samantha Morton.

Tales of the Walking Dead will be a six-episode anthology series that features a standalone story in each episode. New and established characters in The Walking Dead universe will be featured throughout each episode. The tagline reads, "Six New Stories. One Dead World." The footage highlights all six stories in different settings as the characters all try to survive the zombie apocalypse.

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Giancarlo Esposito will star in new AMC series, The Driver

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In 2009, Giancarlo Esposito made an immediate impression as drug lord Gus Fring on AMC's Breaking Bad, and he's been a staple on the network ever since. Esposito also reprised his role as Fring for Better Call Saul. But now that the Breaking Bad prequel series is set to end this year, Esposito will finally headline his own AMC drama.

Via Deadline, Esposito will star in The Driver, a remake of a BBC One miniseries that originally featured David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) in the title role. Esposito will portray a cab driver "whose life is turned upside down when he agrees to chauffer a New Orleans-based Zimbabwean gangster notorious for exploiting undocumented immigrants at the U.S. southern ports."