The Walking Dead renewed for eighth season

In what may be the least shocking news of the day, AMC has renewed its flagship series, The Walking Dead, for an eighth season ahead of the show’s season seven premiere.

According to the network, all 16 episodes of the eighth season will premiere in 2017 and will be followed by Chris Hardwick’s The Talking Dead. Recently, AMC’s president told a group of investors and media that the network had no plans to end the show anytime soon and was looking into ways to create spinoffs for major characters to keep the franchise alive.

The Walking Dead remains one of the most watched shows on television, even despite declining views in its sixth season. According to Nielsen, the show has a total viewership average of 13.15 million, beating out most other shows on both network and cable television by quite a large margin.

The show’s seventh season is set to premiere this weekend, and will focus on the backstory of its newest villain, Negan. Following the cliffhanger from last season, fans will also discover which character Negan decided to kill.

The Walking Dead returns on Oct. 23 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.