‘The Walking Dead’ spin-off series gets summer premiere, season 2 renewal

Great news for everyone out there who wanted to see just how much faith AMC has in the “Walking Dead” franchise: The network just made a huge, two-season commitment to the upcoming spin-off show from executive producer Robert Kirkman and more.

Not only do we have confirmation now on the early season 2 renewal, we’ve also heard that the first season will be six episodes (like “The Walking Dead” season 1), and will premiere at some point in the late summer. This is a bold move in itself to not use the flagship show as a launching pad, and to give this series a chance to really shine on its own. Most likely, this will follow the conclusion of “Half and Catch Fire” season 2, which should premiere earlier in the summer.

In a statement, Kirkman had the following to say about this big move:

“We feel empowered by this two-season commitment, a serious show of faith from our network partner AMC … I personally take it as a sign that they believe, like we do, that we’ve accomplished our goal of developing something original that can pay tribute to the original show and expand the world I created while at the same time having something new to say with this story. I’m very grateful that we now have the opportunity to tell this amazing story and show the fans that we really haven’t scratched the surface yet when it comes to The Walking Dead.”

There’s no word on if “Talking Dead” will also accompany this still-untitled show, but we doubt it since Chris Hardwick has to have time for his other projects. This show will be set in Los Angeles, and focus on some of the earlier days of the apocalypse.

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