‘The Walking Dead’ season 6: Return date speculation for Andrew Lincoln, cast

When will “The Walking Dead” be back on the AMC? Let’s make it clear that we are not speaking here about the upcoming spin-off “Fear the Walking Dead” (which is coming later this summer), but instead, we’re talking about the flagship show. You know, the show with record breaking ratings that sparked an entire craze revolving around zombie-themed entertainment.

You are not going to get an official premiere date for the series for some time. However, if we were playing the guessing game (which we like to do from time to time here at CarterMatt) the one day that we would look at marking in our calendar is Sunday, October 11. That is the same timeframe that we saw season 4 premiere, and that is still late enough that the six-episode spin off can air its first season beforehand. As always, “Talking Dead” should premiere the same night.

When we write these articles, one of the things that we often like to do is have a discussion about just how long we foresee a certain show lasting. The tricky thing about “The Walking Dead” is that it could crawl around like an undead zombie for an impossibly long period of time… long after viewers have wandered off to watch other things and the craze dies down. At this point there is no reason for this series to be wrapping things up at any point in the near future considering they are still dominating television. The only thing standing in its way could be actor negotiations, which could be happening at some point this summer. Most shows sign their cast to six seasons before things really get going as a way to ensure long-term security. Whenever Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, and many of the other long-term members of the cast want to get a pay raise, that could end up changing the budget of the show significantly and we may be stuck with more episodes involving supply runs and not much else.

It’s not that we’re against pay raises: All parties involved deserve it for not only the hard work they do on the show, but the hours and passion they put into the fans, promotion and conventions. As long as the ratings stay high, this show really could last forever. While there are some cast members we don’t see leaving, there is really no one who could die and the show would end.

Head over here if you missed some of our other “Walking Dead” finale spoilers from earlier! Also, sign up to score some additional TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: AMC.)