More The Walking Dead & Talking Dead for AMC

NEW YORK: AMC has renewed the hit horror series The Walking Dead for a seventh season and has also ordered new episodes of Talking Dead, the live after-show hosted by Chris Hardwick.

The Walking Dead has been the number one program on television among adults 18 to 49 for the last three years. The show centers on a group of survivors during a zombie apocalypse. The seventh season is slated to begin airing in October 2016. Scott M. Gimple will return as showrunner and executive producer, along with exec producers Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero and Tom Luse.

Talking Dead, which airs after The Walking Dead, ranks in the top ten across all television among adults 18 to 49. Last Sunday's episode was its highest rated ever that was not a premiere or finale, delivering 7.3 million viewers.

Charlie Collier, the president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios, commented: "Thank goodness someone had a Magic 8-Ball with them in our many long internal meetings about these renewals. When, on the third shake, 'without a doubt' filled the murky blue screen, we knew we had to proceed with new seasons of The Walking Dead and Talking Dead. All joking aside, we are so proud to share these shows with fans who have been so passionate, communicative and engaged. We are grateful for and continually impressed by the talent, effort and excellence on continuous display by Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, Chris Hardwick and the many people with whom we partner to make these unique shows possible. The result: More Walking and Talking. Hooray."