Last year, AMC Network CEO Josh Sapan made headlines when he said: "We'll be sitting here... in 2022 discussing the fact that Walking Dead is not over." Confirming that the producers and writers are thinking of this as a long term series, The Walking Dead's David Alpert recently revealed that they have a rough plan up to Season 12 and potentially beyond.
This was mentioned during a "Produced By" panel that also featured Hannibal's Bryan Fuller and True Detective's Scott Stephens. When asked about working with pre-existing content, David Alpert had the following to say about their plan for adapting the comic book series:
via Indiewire: "I happen to love working from source material, specifically because we have a pretty good idea of what season 10 is gonna be. We know where season 11 and 12...we have benchmarks and milestones for those seasons if we're lucky enough to get there."
As mentioned, it's not a given that they will reach Season 12 and beyond, as it all comes down to ratings. However, if The Walking Dead can continue to hold audiences like it has over the last four seasons, I don't see twelve seasons as being a problem. The big question is how do they handle cast transitions. Certain characters are more essential than others and I wonder how many of them would be willing to commit to so many seasons.
For now, the main focus is obviously on Season 5 and there's also a spin-off series in the early stages of development that's due out in 2015. Catch up on our coverage highlights by visiting the following links:
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
