The Walking Dead is currently under production for season 10 on AMC. The franchise has been responsible for creating a whole zombie universe that will live on for years to come. Based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series, the show was a hit, and even won the hearts of many fans who had never read the books. However, like the surprising deaths on the show, there has been another one that will surely leave a lasting impact: The Walking Dead comic book, itself. 

Kirkman shocked fans when he ended the series with issue #193 without warning. He wrote a heartfelt letter to the fans on the back pages of the last issue. 

“In a way, killing this series has been a lot like killing a major character. Much, much harder… but the same feeling,” Kirkman wrote. “I don’t WANT to do it. I’d rather keep going… But the story is telling me what it wants and what it needs. This needs to happen. Whether I want it or not.”

Kirkman had told Charlie Adlard, his longest-running artist for the comics, that he had the ending figured out, but not the timeline of it all. 

“The thing is… this was over four years ago at this point… but I knew pretty much every big story point that was going to happen all the way up to this final issue,” explained Kirkman. “A couple years prior, around 2013 or so, I’d even told Charlie at San Diego Comic-Con what the gist of this final issue was…I just didn’t know exactly what issue that story would fall in. I knew the end… but I didn’t know where it would fall. I figured… somewhere past issue #300. As I’ve said publicly… I’ve always wanted to reach that number, that big, round Cerebus number that all the insane indy comics creators try to chase.”

AMC assured fans that although the comics ended, the show will continue. 

“This extraordinary comic created a world that already lives in multiple forms, and in the hearts and minds of millions of fans around the world, and will for many years to come,” said the network.