'The Walking Dead' at 100: Still a hit, but for how much longer?

NYT Syndicate

A drive through the 120 acres of sound stages and countryside in Senoia, Georgia, that serve as home base for AMC's 'The Walking Dead' encompasses landmarks both grandiose, like the ersatz colonial mansion built for the Hilltop set, and quietly chilling, like the shady grove where the archvillain Negan bludgeoned two of the show's most beloved characters to death last fall.
But perhaps the most striking site is the simple screening theatre where the actors do script read-throughs, particularly the wall containing headshots of the 43 cast members killed off during the zombie-apocalypse drama's seven seasons. Soon your eye drifts away from the victims toward the negative space surrounding their doomed faces: There's plenty of wall left to fill.
'The Walking Dead' resumed October 22, when it kicked off Season 8 with the 100th episode of its run. It is a notable television milestone for such a physically intense, tightly serialised narrative ” typically it is formulaic sitcoms and procedurals that achieve such longevity.
Based on the long-running comic book by Robert Kirkman, co-creator of the series, 'The Walking Dead' remains a tremendous hit. It has been the most-watched series among younger viewers for five consecutive years and is the hub of a lucrative franchise that has spun off additional shows, such as 'Fear the Walking Dead,' and other brand extensions.
But it is also looking to rebound from a stretch that alienated many fans with storytelling shenanigans ” most notably a cliffhanger that made viewers wait for months to learn the identities of Negan's victims in the Season 6 finale ” and a string of grim, disjointed episodes in Season 7. Last year's ratings were the lowest since Season 3.

That was before an offseason in which Kirkman and several other executive producers sued AMC, charging it with shortchanging them on profits from the show. The complaint follows a similar suit by the other co-creator, Frank Darabont, who was fired during production on Season 2.
So the question going into Season 8 is, are the hiccups simply understandable ebbs within a long-running serial, or the beginning of an aging show's decline?
The producers and AMC insist that, however things look from the outside, everyone involved remains committed to the health of their golden goose. The creators predictably say that the next phase of the story is the most exciting yet, and they expect 'The Walking Dead' to last another 100 episodes or more.
"We want to keep doing it at least as long as Robert keeps doing it," showrunner Scott M Gimple said."We're prepared for the long haul."
Since debuting on Halloween 2010 as a horror curiosity, 'The Walking Dead' has become a pop-culture institution: In early October the series donated a collection of props and costumes to the Smithsonian.
But there's still plenty of story left to tell. The events of Season 8 begin in Issue 115 of the comic book, and Issue 173 will come out in November. Charlie Collier, the president of AMC Networks, points to recent raucous cast appearances at Comic-Cons and traffic to the Season 8 trailer, which has more than 7 million views, as evidence that, for all their kvetching last season, fans remain as engaged as ever.
Another thing in the show's favour is that it is returning to its roots, creatively, with this season's 'All Out War' arc. A coalition led by the show's hero, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), will face off against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his gang, the Saviors. After testing viewers' patience by separating fan favorites like Rick, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus), the new phase reunites the core group against a colourful villain, a dynamic that animated popular stretches like the Governor and Terminus storylines. Unlike the overhyped arrival of Negan in Season 6, the 'All Out War' storyline will be resolved within a single season.
"Hopefully the people who said they'd never watch the show again" will come back, Morgan said."There are going to be some big payoffs."
AMC now thinks of 'The Walking Dead' as"not just a show, but really as an incredible piece of content that we engage fans with not just for the 16-week season, but for the remainder of the year," Collier said. Besides 'Fear the Walking Dead' ” which will have a crossover subplot with the original show, Kirkman announced at New York Comic-Con ” there are the highly rated post-show 'Talking Dead," video games and conventions. AMC recently created a fan-rewards programme that will award points for interacting with the"Walking Dead" universe ” watching episodes, posting on social media, creating fan fiction ” and will soon debut a quarterly merchandise-box subscription, a sort of Trunk Club for"Dead" heads. As for the show itself, it has officially been renewed only for Season 8, but there are signs that the writers are looking far beyond the current time frame. A moment in the trailer seemed to depict Rick as a much older man, though no one involved will elaborate on whether the scene was a time shift, a dream sequence or some other storytelling device.