Here's the biggest news of the day that you definitely saw coming: AMC has renewed The Walking Dead for a fifth season, citing record-breaking ratings and, of course, awesome zombie violence.
"We are very happy to make what has to be one of the most anti-climactic renewal announcements ever: The Walking Dead is renewed for a fifth season," AMC president Charlie Collier said in a press release today. "This is a show that has erased traditional distinctions between cable and broadcast. Its expanding base of passionate fans has grown every season, most recently – and most notably – with the season four premiere earlier this month, which broke viewership records for the series and became the biggest non-sports telecast in cable history. On behalf of the incredible team on both sides of the camera, thank you to the fans and here’s to more Dead."
It's pretty simple to see why AMC would want to keep TWD around: In addition to all those zombies, ratings for the season four premiere broke a record 20 million viewers, making that episode the most-watched non-sports show ever on cable—breaking High School Musical 2's previous record.
Scott Gimple will return as showrunner, and Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero, and Tom Luse will all return as executive producers.
