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Good news everybody! The Walking Dead has been renewed for a sixth season – even before the fifth has aired! Here’s what Variety had to say.
“We could not be more excited for October 12th as we share new episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’ with fans around the globe,” said AMC president Charlie Collier. “In advance of Sunday’s season five premiere, AMC proudly confirms a sixth season order of this extraordinary series. Thank you to Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, the terrific executive producers, and the entire team who brings this compelling world and these rich characters to life. There’s plenty more Dead ahead thanks to their impressive, collective effort.”
But I read this news (on Twitter originally but then again) at /Film who suggested that six seasons is usually the end point for most shows, so perhaps we are going to start to see the beginning of the end for our group from Atlanta.
Why?
The season four season finale scored their highest number of viewers for a season finale around 15.7 million viewers. This was just shy of the number tuning in to the season four premier of 16.1 million. (Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Lost started its fourth season with similar numbers and ended with less – approx. 9.4 million, so in comparison it seems that The Walking Dead is still doing strong. And that’s also clear in its storytelling.
After the slow start to season two, things really kicked up with the introduction of the Governor and Michonne, the prison and just the brilliant, bloody violence and terror. Season Five is going to start off with our survivors trapped in a train car with no weapons against a group of angry cannibals.
Read that again.
That must guarantee viewers. The idea that the plot may need to be wrapped up is ludicrous. Not only has the spin-off recently been announced but just looking at the source material (admittedly its been deviated from somewhat but its still source material), there is a lot of room to grow. The cannibals in the TV show probably draw inspiration from The Hunters in the comics, they were around during issues 63-66 back in January 2010. We’re now up to Issue 132, like I say, plenty of room to grow.
Why must a popular show have an end date? Whilst I agree if the viewers aren’t there then its time to call it a day, but with The Walking Dead still posting strong numbers, there is no need for it to be the end of the road.