The Walking Dead Could Last A Very Long Time, Says Creator

The Walking Dead may have more life in it than fans thought. The AMC series, which is currently in its seventh season, is more brutal than ever, with Rick, Daryl, and the rest of the survivors contending with not only walkers, but the most vicious villain the show's ever seen. So how much longer until the entire cast gets killed off and the series sings its swan song? According to Walking Dead's creator and graphic novel author Robert Kirkman, don't count on The Walking Dead's TV death happening anytime soon. As reported by Comicbook, Kirkman wrote about the potential end of the series in his "Letter Hacks" column, which he included at the end of The Walking Dead #161. The show typically covers 20 issues per season and is roughly following the storyline of issue #111 of 161. Kirkman cranks out a new issue of the graphic novel each month. When you factor in the television show's hiatuses (The Walking Dead is currently on a break between the first and second half of season 7 and will resume in February) and the speed in which Kirkman churns out his novels, it sounds like there could be Walking Dead material until the actual zombie apocalypse hits. However, the writer actually did the math and revealed that this is how many seasons the show could potentially have. "It took us [six] seasons to get to 100," Kirkman wrote. "It won’t take us [six] years to get to 200 and that will take us to season … [12]. And we’ll still be ahead of the show at that point." Even the most loyal Walking Dead fan might find it hard to imagine the series feeling fresh after so many years on the air — after all, there's nothing worse than a series that was once excellent spinning its wheels in later seasons. However, if there's one thing that should give fans hope, it's Kirkman's explanation for how he sees the story's trajectory. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he revealed: "I know what the end point is, and at the end of the day, I want this entire long narrative to be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end." Kirkman clearly has a plan, so maybe we should all just sit back, relax, and watch the mayhem ensue.