AMC CEO says no end in sight to The Walking Dead

So hollywoodreporter.com, as well as several other reliable websites, reported two weeks ago that at the Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference, AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan said some things that made fans of The Walking Dead jump for joy.  Here's what he had to say:

“We hope that zombies live forever, and we’ve just begun to find out what the post-apocalyptic world is like so that we’ll be sitting here at the Barclays conference in 2022 discussing the fact that The Walking Dead is not over … at that point, I think any one of the companies will have replaced the United States government and we’ll be in a complete free enterprise world in which there are no nations.”

You can read the full article here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amc-networks-ceo-says-he-527380

Wow. 

The Walking Dead will still be on AMC in 2022.  That would be nine years from now, so that would be into seasons 13 and 14, depending on how many seasons occur per year.  The only thing I'm worried about in the long-run is whether or not Robert Kirkman wants to stay on board and keep doing this.  But from his past Q&As, it does seem like he wants to keep doing this and he's always wanted to create a zombie story that doesn't end really quickly like in a movie.  The Walking Dead is supposed to be a long term project where we see how the survivors have evolved over time in a zombie apocalypse. 

The comic book series has already accomplished that, and I guess you could say that the television series has somewhat accomplished that as well in only three seasons.  I say that because we know the characters better then you would know any character in any zombie movie.  So I would love to see The Walking Dead get as many seasons as possible.  Now some would say, "Oh, it's going to lose its steam soon."  I'm of the mindset that it's only going to get more popular with more seasons.  In addition, if another character drops out, they could always bring in new survivors and kill off the old ones like they did with Dale, played by Jeffrey DeMunn.

Now in eight or nine years, Andrew Lincoln may be become too old to continue or may not want to do the series anymore.  Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl, would be 20 or 21-years-old.  You could have him take over as the main protagonist, but that is if Lincoln doesn't want to do the series anymore.  Another possibility for the main protagonist could be Michonne, played by Danai Guirira, or Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus.  But again, that's if Lincoln doesn't want to continue.

By having Rick die and someone taking over, you could have the show go on for a really long time, maybe even as long as the producers want.  I think as long as the show gets good ratings, AMC will keep this series around because it is the most viewed series they've ever had.  But again, I think the only thing that could derail the series is if Robert Kirkman doesn't want the series on television anymore, but I really hope that day doesn't come.

So I think The Walking Dead will get at least seven seasons, but I think they'll start having some trouble around season ten.  But as long as people keep watching it, I think the show will go on.