You'll Know Their Fate Come October

To the surprise of absolutely no one, The Walking Dead was renewed for a fifth season all the way back in October. AMC has so much love for their ratings behemoth (in fact, they are capitalizing on the drama's popularity by developing an upcoming companion series), even they acknowledged how unsurprising the move was. Charlie Collier, the president of AMC, said in a statement at the time, "We are very happy to make what has to be one of the most anti-climactic renewal announcements ever: The Walking Dead is renewed for a fifth season." And because everyone loves Chris Hardwick, The Walking Dead's post-show jam session The Talking Dead will return alongside it.

Since the Season 4 finale — titled, simply, "A" — is bound to leave fans salivating for more, you'll need something to tide you over until the show's return. While Season 5 was inevitable for Rick Grimes and company, there's still no official return date, but all four seasons have kicked off in the spooky month on October, so you should anticipate a similar time frame.

Here's what we know so far about Season 5: Scott Gimple will return as the series’ showrunner along with executive producers Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero and Tom Luse. The Atlanta-based show is also already holding auditions for new zombies (who have to attend "Zombie School" which honestly sounds like the most fun thing ever), as well as upcoming casting calls for "new series regulars, recurring roles, and guest starring roles."

Speaking of guest stars, Andrew J. West (better known as Terminus resident Gareth), who was brought onto the series as a guest star could have the "option to be promoted to a series regular" in Season 5. (The fate of other newcomers like Michael Cudlitz, who plays Abraham Ford, remains a question mark before the finale.)

While the main stars are staying understandably tight-lipped (including Beth Green herself, Emily Kinney, who refused to give any spoilers), The Walking Dead's creator Robert Kirkman gave the most excruciating preview of Season 5 yet. During a Reddit AMA, "The cliffhanger at the end of Season 4 will make the wait between Seasons 4 and 5 the hardest wait we've ever had. ENJOY!” Oh. Great. Thanks. Only six more months to freak out.

Image: Gene Page/AMC; Tumblr/gemini-dragon-gifs