The Walking Dead comic book series ended earlier this summer, which gave some fans cause for alarm as to the fate of the TV show. AMC’s assured us it’s going nowhere, but given that it’s about to enter a decade of being on the air, you’d think the end must be sooner rather than later.
Well, star Jeffrey Dean Morgan has now given his own estimate of how long we’ve got left and he thinks there’s a good three seasons in TWDÂ still to come. Variety caught up with Morgan at the season 10 premiere, with the Negan actor revealing his personal wish that the series go out on a high before it loses its way. He guessed that, roughly following the comics’ storyline, there’s a few years of material still to go, saying:
“You don’t want to run it into the ground. Me personally, I’d say let’s go out on top. Let’s go out still being the number one show in the world. Whether or not that happens, I don’t know. I think if we just stuck with the comic book, we’ve still got another three years. We do deviate a lot, but I think there’s probably a good three years of material there.”
Morgan’s guess is a smart one based on how TWD seasons tend to loosely adapt about 10-15 issues of the comic per run. Season 10 will likely cover up to issue #162, the end of the Whisperer conflict, which leaves 30 issues still to tackle in future outings. However, like the actor says, the show has always done its own thing, too, so it’s hard to accurately calculate its longevity.
What’s more, AMC don’t seem to want the franchise to conclude anytime soon. In fact, the network CEO has said TWDÂ is still in the early stages of its life. It’s unclear, though, whether this refers to the parent show or the brand. For instance, new series like the upcoming youth-oriented spinoff and Andrew Lincoln’s movies make it clear that the franchise could evolve beyond the need for the central show that kicked it off.
But enough about the future. Back in the here and now, The Walking Dead season 10 begins on Sunday, October 6th.
