AMC has renewed The Walking Dead shown on FOX for an 8th season as well as the aftershow Talking Dead on AMC just before the start of the zombie drama's upcoming 7th season.
South African viewers will be able to watch the 8th season of The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) in late-2017 that will have 16 episodes. The 8th season premiere will mark the series' 100th episode.
With MultiChoice killing off the AMC channel on DStv, only StarSat subscribers will be able to watch the companion aftershow series, Talking Dead, that airs on the AMC channel from after mid-November.
AMC still airs on DStv channel 140 until 11 November, but the channel that shows the spin-off zombie drama series Fear the Walking Dead, already renewed for a third season, and the talk show Talking Dead will only remain accessible to StarSat subscribers on channel 115 from after that.
Meanwhile the 7th season of The Walking Dead will premiere on FOX this coming Monday morning, 24 October, for South African and African viewers at 03:30 in the morning as a simulcast with the American airdate.
The Walking Dead's 7th season will then roll out its first episode again later on Monday night at 21:00 in its regular weekly timeslot.
DStv and StarSat subscribers can watch the second season of Talking Dead: Fear Edition from today on AMC on Mondays at 20:45 with presenter Chris Hardwick.
The premiere episode of The Walking Dead's 7th season is set to reveal which main character villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has chosen to kill off in the 6th season finale cliffhanger, although its a certainty that it won't be the lead character of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) who is definitely safe.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, more," says AMC boss Charlie Collier in a statement announcing the 8th season renewal of The Walking Dead.
"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."
The FOX Networks Group (FNG) will once again show episodes of The Walking Dead internationally in over 125 territories, including South Africa and across Africa, 24 hours after the season launch on AMC in America.
As in previous seasons, the 7th season of The Walking Dead will be shown in two parts with the first 8 episodes from this coming Monday, and the second batch of 8 episodes from February 2017.
