WARNING THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS NO SPOILERS OF ANY KIND FOR ANYTHING.

To the surprise of nobody, AMC has renewed The Walking Dead for a seventh season of zombie action. AMC president Charlie Collier issued a brief statement;

“Thank goodness someone had a Magic 8-Ball with them in our many long internal meetings about these renewals. When, on the third shake, ‘without a doubt’ filled the murky blue screen, we knew we had to proceed with new seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Talking Dead.’ All joking aside, we are so proud to share these shows with fans who have been so passionate, communicative and engaged. We are grateful for and continually impressed by the talent, effort and excellence on continuous display by Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, Chris Hardwick and the many people with whom we partner to make these unique shows possible. The result: More Walking and Talking. Hooray.”

The current sixth season has set new ratings records and is back on form after a somewhat middling fifth year. To be honest, the news is hardly news as The Walking Dead shows no signs of viewer fatigue. The important thing here is that The Walking Dead will be on our screen until 2017 at least.

The acclaimed spin-off Fear The Walking Dead, was renewed for a second season before the pilot episode was broadcast. The fan reaction to Fear has been mixed, but I’ve yet to watch it so I can’t comment on that yet. I’m still trying to get over the shock of Rick shaving his beard off last season.

The Walking Dead continues Sundays in the US and on Monday nights here in zombie free England.