Some TV shows go away too soon, while other stick around for way too long. The Walking Dead on the cups of their fifth season could have the material to go for 11 more if that’s what AMC ordered….
In the midst of a hot, sticky Atlanta summer, the cast and crew of ‘The Walking Dead’ are filming scenes for the upcoming fifth season, which will debut on AMC this October. There are plenty of unanswered questions still lingering from season 4 — what happened to Beth? What are the people at Terminus? Will season 5 all take place inside a train car?
Thankfully, ‘Walking Dead’ creator Robert Kirkman solves at least one of those riddles right away as he looks ahead at season five while working away on the set. He also promises a lot of answers will be given right away just by watching the season premiere including the death of a prominent character perhaps?
“There’s a lot going on with Terminus,” says Kirkmam. “In our premiere episode of season 5 we’re going to give a ton of answers of who the people of Terminus are, what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, what’s going on with them. And by the end of that episode you’re going to have a much better understanding of what’s going on with them and why they’re so important to the show. Oh, and Daryl dies,” Kirkman said.
“They definitely get out of that train car.”
Kirkman was surely joking about Daryl Dixon dying because despite his grand standing last season that no character is safe on ‘The Walking Dead’, there’s little chance AMC or the producers behind the show are going to start pulling off moves to rival what George R.R. Martin does on seemingly a daily basis with the Stark family in his ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ novels, which are the basis for HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’.
The more interesting tease Kirkman gave in the interview, however, was the fact that he doesn’t see an end game in sight for ‘The Walking Dead’ anytime soon. In a day and age where shows all seem to have some kind of shelf life, ‘The Walking Dead’ isn’t managed that way. The moment ‘Sons of Anarchy’ went on the air, creator Kurt Sutter envisioned a seven season arc before the end. Show runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss say ‘Game of Thrones’ will end with season seven as well.
Kirkman isn’t even thinking about the end of ‘The Walking Dead’ because he’s still writing material for the comic books, it’s still doing very well with readers, and if AMC wants the show to stick around they could be on air through season 15 without a problem.
“I’m still doing the comic and plan in doing it for many, many years,” Kirkman said. “And right now the issues that we are doing as we speak is material that could be adapted into a season 10, 11, or 12 depending on how we adapt things. And we’re not stopping. So five years for now we’ll be doing comics that could be for season 15. Now, it’s unrealistic to think it can go for that long, but if the show remains successful, the potential is there for that.”
Kirkman may joke but considering the kind of insane ratings ‘The Walking Dead’ pulls week to week on cable television not to mention AMC has already committed to a spinoff show that will kick off at some point in 2015, the zombie opus could realistically stay on air for another decade. Whether that actually happens or not depends on the audience’s ability to stay enthralled with zombies for 10 more seasons, but if CSI can have a show set in 18 different cities and Law & Order can apparently stay on the air for a millenia, anything is possible for ‘The Walking Dead’.
H/T: EW.com
