The Walking Dead Season 9 To Kick Off With Super-Sized Premiere

The fall 2018 TV schedule is beginning to heat up. And fast.

Next week, for instance, we have the apocalyptic new season of American Horror Story over on FX, before The CW begins rolling out new installments of its Arrowverse stalwarts – namely The Flash, Supergirl and Black Lightning… to name but three.

October is a similarly stacked affair, what with the groundbreaking new season of Doctor Who penciled in for Sunday, October 7th. It’s not the only mainstream series set for a return early next month though, as AMC’s The Walking Dead is also beginning to loom over the horizon.

Also slated for October 7th, TWD‘s ninth season begins with an 18-month time jump, thrusting Rick Grimes and Co. far into the future of this ravaged wasteland. Exactly how things pan out for AMC’s core band of survivors remains to be seen, but at the very least, we can take solace in the fact that season 9’s so-far untitled premiere will be an extended one.

Per ComicBook.com, The Walking Dead 9×01 will be helmed by series mainstay Greg Nicotero, with Angela Kang serving as showrunner. It’ll also stretch from 9 p.m. ET through until 10:26 p.m, before a brand new installment of Talking Dead kicks off with the returning Chris Hardwick (somewhat contentiously, we might add).

That’s right, we’re now on the verge of an entirely new installment of The Walking Dead, and season 9 is shaping up to be one to remember – for better or worse. Why, you ask? Because both Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Lauren Cohan (Maggie Rhee) are headed for the exit door, and their back-to-back departures will no doubt have a serious ripple effect on the series moving forward.