The Walking Dead Officially Renewed for Season 5

In a move that is unlikely to surprise anyone, AMC has officially renewed The Walking Dead for Season 5.

Deadline Hollywood reports that AMC has made the renewal official. AMC president Charlie Collier released the following statement:

"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. This is a show that has erased traditional distinctions between cable and broadcast. Its expanding base of passionate fans has grown every season, most recently - and most notably - with the season four premiere earlier this month, which broke viewership records for the series and became the biggest non-sports telecast in cable history. On behalf of the incredible team on both sides of the camera, thank you to the fans and here's to more Dead." 

The announcement also revealed that showrunner Scott Gimple would return next year, along with executive producers Gale Hurd and Robert Kirkman, the latter of whom created the comic series on which the show is based.

The show is currently in the midst of Season 4 and has demolished cable ratings records thus far this season. The Season 4 premiere netted 16.11 million viewers and eventually became the most-watched non-sports cable episode in history with more than 20 million viewers after DVR numbers were incorporated into the equation.

The second episode, "Infected," dipped slightly to 13.94 million live viewers, while the third and most recent episode, "Isolation," earned 12.9 million. With numbers like that, a renewal of The Walking Dead was a question of when, not if, and AMC made it official Tuesday.

The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 10 p.m. eastern on AMC.