The Walking Dead showrunner Scott M. Gimple has declared that he’s aiming for the show to be on the air for 20 years.
The long-running AMC show – which airs on FOX in the UK – debuted in October 2010 and is currently in its seventh season. An eighth season, which will premiere in October 2017 with the show’s 100th episode, was commissioned last year after the brutal opening episode of the current season.
Gimple, who took over showrunning duties in 2013 for The Walking Dead‘s fourth season, has now voiced his hope that the show will carry on for another 13 years at least – taking it up to 20 years on the air if it is still being made in 2030.
“We are trying to do 20 years,” Gimple said during a fan panel at PaleyFest in LA. “The [Walking Dead] comic has certainly done it, and I look forward to every issue.
“The Simpsons has been on 26, 27 years, so that’s a challenge — so OK, challenge accepted. Done.”
While honouring the comics, Gimple also revealed that The Walking Dead will try and continue to bring an “original” slant to its storyline with each new season.
“We try to reinvent the show every eight episodes,” he said. “We have this story that is a fidelity to the comic book, but we’re also exploring original stuff, and those things help us go on every year.
“We want to try do it better, do things we haven’t done, take risks. It’s scary as hell, but as long as we keep doing that the show can go on and on.”
Despite Gimple’s assertions to the contrary, Walking Dead castmember Sonequa Martin-Green this week shared her theory on how the show might end.