The Walking Dead is going to continue for many, many years

AMC is getting ready for The Walking Dead’s seventh season and, according to new statements from network president Josh Sapan, there are no plans to end the series anytime soon.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, as reported by The Wrap, Sapan likened the franchise to Star Trek and said it had the potential to run for years in a multitude of ways. Much like how the original Star Trek series had a series of spinoffs, Sapan said that AMC wanted to do something similar with The Walking Dead. The network already has one spinoff on the air, Fear the Walking Dead, and while it hasn’t been as successful with critics or in the ratings, it still pulls decent numbers for AMC.

Sapan said that The Walking Dead has "an incredibly long life left in it" and could run for "many, many more years," with additional spinoff series possibly being created. Fans have asked for a spinoff featuring Norman Reedus’ beloved character, Daryl, but AMC hasn’t said whether it has plans to look into the possibility of bringing that to fruition.

In its plans to keep The Walking Dead and its spinoff series alive for as long as possible, Sapan said that like the original Star Trek, it was the type of franchise that they could keep coming back to whenever they thought there was an arc or character worth exploring more in-depth.

"[Star Trek] came and went three times," Sapan said, according to The Wrap. "We do think that we have a franchise [in The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead] that is one of the rare franchises that you occasionally come across in what we do for a living."

Sapan added that he thought other popular series on the network, like Preacher and Into the Badlands, had franchise-like qualities, but didn’t speak about whether the network was looking into expanding those shows at this time.

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