'The Walking Dead' news, updates: Season 8 renewal confirmed

Fans of the mega hit series, "The Walking Dead," are far from running out of zombie-infested episodes to watch. A few weeks before the seventh season of the series comes out, AMC gave an early treat for fans when they announced the renewal of " The Walking Dead" for an eighth installment.

Renewal was announced at the start of a special two-hour "The Walking Dead" retrospective aired by AMC where the first six seasons were reminisced. It was also posted on the official Twitter and Facebook account of the series.

Season 8 is expected to premiere in late 2017 and it will mark the show's 100th episode.

Together with the show's renewal is the confirmation of Chris Hardwick's comeback as a host on "The Walking Dead" after-show "The Talking Dead."

The early renewal is no surprise since the Scott M. Gimple-led zombie apocalypse series ranks as the number one show on TV among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, based on numbers from The Nielsen Company as reported by TV by the Numbers. The high-rating show, starring Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, has held that spot for the past four seasons.

According to Inquisitr, AMC head Charlie Collier playfully referenced in a statement "The Walking Dead" villain Negan's threat to his kneeling victims in the season 6 finale.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, more. What a joy to partner with Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple and some of the hardest-working people in television to bring The Walking Dead to the fans. And, most important, thanks to those fans for breathing life into this remarkable series right along with us," he said.

On the other hand, season 7 will premiere on Sunday, Oct.23, at 9 p.m. EDT on AMC, followed by a 90-minute episode of the "Talking Dead." 

The return of the much-awaited series based on the Robert Kirkman comics will finally put an end to the speculations as to who was the victim of Negan's baseball bat, Lucille. The sixth season finale's cliffhanger left fans anxious as they have to wait for next season to find out the fate of the 11 core characters in Negan's hands.