While The Walking Dead might be stumbling a bit as far as the ratings go, season 9 has been pretty well liked by critics and fans. In an attempt to bat off accusations that the show’s become a bit formulaic, we’ve already seen the death of Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes, an interesting time jump and the arrival of the mysterious and very, very creepy Whisperers, who recently killed off Jesus.
So, what’s next? Well, in the immediate future, the show will be returning to AMC early next year and is set to pit the gang against the aforementioned Whisperers, a group of survivors who believe that the apocalypse is a commandment for humanity to revert to a feral and animalistic state.
But beyond that, it certainly sounds like the network has big plans for the property, with AMC programming president David Madden telling IndieWire recently that they’re hoping “for a long future” with The Walking Dead.
“Creatively, we are doing some different things in Season Nine,” Madden said. “Season Nine takes a big time jump. There are a lot of new situations that propel us into a very different tone. You look across the board at ratings, every show is dropping from where it used to be. But we’re still looking at big numbers, so we’re hoping for a long future with The Walking Dead.”
That’s certainly encourage to hear, not to mention reassuring as well, given that as Madden says, the ratings haven’t been great lately. Closer to home, though, season 9 will resume in February and showrunner Angela Kang recently told Entertainment Weekly that fans will be thrown straight into the thick of it, beginning with the burial of Jesus.
“It’s gonna be a direct pickup. We’re gonna find out what happens to that group that was in the cemetery as they try to make their harrowing journey back home to bury Jesus.”
And it all gets underway on February 10th, when The Walking Dead season 9 returns. After that, well, we know that a 10th season is already in development, while that first Rick Grimes spinoff movie should be with us next year, too. Suffice it to say, there’s much to get excited about.
