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are characters and premises from the comics the show can’t wait to incorporate.

“It’s more like things in the comic that I can’t wait to get to. I cannot wait until we introduce Negan. He is just like the coolest fucking character on the planet. You thought the Governor was bad news?”

That’s right, Negan, the fierce, ping-pong loving leader of “The Saviors” will eventually pop up on AMC’s version of The Walking Dead, although he will likely be a little less foul-mouthed than his comic counterpart since AMC is less excited about f-bombs than, say, Starz. Alpert’s excitement over bringing Negan on to the series is a little opposite from what we’ve heard from comic book creator Robert Kirkman, who also writes and gives creative input on the show. Last month, Kirkman told the Daily Dead we shouldn’t expect to see Negan on the series anytime soon.

“Not really. At the pace that we’re going, we’re talking about somewhere like Season 12. We certainly don’t think that far ahead about what’s going to be on the TV show.”

The writer also told the outlet that he has no interest in rushing the introduction of the character. Between that and Alpert not giving a date on Negan’s inclusion in the series, I feel pretty comfortable in saying that we likely won’t be getting Negan during The Walking Dead’s upcoming fifth season. I’m also really fucking displeased about the prospect.

While Kirkman has full creative reign over the comic book world he created, he’s not the showrunner on The Walking Dead. Scott Gimple is, and he’s the person calling the shots and working with the writers on where new seasons of AMC’s hit zombie series are headed. With a little luck, we’ll see Negan well before Season 12.

AMC’s The Walking Dead returns to the schedule Sunday, October 12 at 9 p.m. ET.

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AMC announced today that it has ordered a pilot episode of a companion series for “The Walking Dead.” “The Walking Dead,” which premiered on AMC in October, 2010, has been the #1 program on television among adults 18-49 for the last two years. Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert from “The Walking Dead” are also executive producers of the new project which, like the original, is being produced by AMC Studios. Dave Erickson (“Marco Polo,” “Sons of Anarchy”), who co-created and co-wrote the pilot with Kirkman, will serve as an executive producer and showrunner.

“Almost from the beginning of ‘The Walking Dead’ on AMC, fans have been curious about what is going on in the zombie apocalypse in other parts of the world. In fact, beyond requests for zombie cameos, it’s the question I get asked the most,” said AMC President Charlie Collier. “Obviously, we all take our stewardship of the original franchise incredibly seriously and we, along with Robert, Gale, David and now Dave, are all proceeding with extreme care in order to ensure that we are offering fans something truly compelling, engaging and distinct. We’re thrilled to be taking this next step with these remarkable partners.”

“There are many corners of ‘The Walking Dead’ universe that remain unseen in the shadows. Being given the opportunity to shine a light into those corners and see what lurks out there is an absolute thrill. I know the fans are anxious to hear what Dave and I have been cooking up for this new universe of ‘The Walking Dead,’ and I’m happy to be one step closer to sharing it with them,” said Kirkman.

“I’ve been fortunate to have collaborated with both Robert and AMC on past projects and I’m thrilled to join them again, along with Gale and David, to build upon ‘The Walking Dead’s’ already epic narrative,” said Erickson.

The pilot is scheduled for production in late 2014. No additional details are being provided about the location and/or casting for the pilot at this time.

The highly-anticipated fifth season of “The Walking Dead” returns to AMC on October 12. “The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series created and written by Robert Kirkman and published by Skybound, Kirkman’s imprint at Image Comics.

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It’s hard for fans not to be thinking of True Blood this week, as we are all too aware of the fact that on Sunday night HBO will be airing the final episode of the popular vampire series. Not just the final episode of the season, the final episode ever. While the show may be ending, the ratings have been doing quite well for the subscription cable network, prompting us to wonder why HBO is canceling one of its best performers. Luckily, HBO programming director Michael Lombardo has a reasonable answer to that question.

The suited up network man spoke with THR this week to discuss why Season 7 will be True Blood’s last. At the heart of his reasoning, he talks about about how numbers are not the guide for HBO, but rather, storytelling is.

“This season, True Blood is one of the highest rated shows across the board, it gets over 10 million views an episode. But the minute you feel you’re airing it for the numbers we start questioning it.”

Once a show becomes wildly popular but peaks creatively, there are really two ways a network can go with a show. A company can choose to go the How I Met Your Mother or Grey’s Anatomy route and push into new territories and storylines beyond the original scope of the idea, often with a loss of quality. Or, a network can go out with a bang, choosing to end a series before many fans are quite ready to let that series go, a la Breaking Bad or Six Feet Under. Both options have their pros and cons, but clearly HBO is more worried about creative storytelling than how many people tune in each week.

“Every season we sit down with the creator and say ‘Tell us what the next year will be like.’ And if there aren’t exciting, unbelievable, undeniable ideas in the coming season, we’re questioning. And I think in the case of True Blood, it just felt like we had reached a place where the storytelling was hitting a wall.”

Over the years, HBO has developed a roster that is the envy of most other programming stations. Instead of quantity, HBO is known for a reasonable episode count. Instead of choosing safe programs, HBO is known for going out on a limb. What’s probably most telling about the success of this format is the company’s once slogan, “It’s not TV, it’s HBO,” now simply, “It’s HBO.” Part of the reason the subscription network can do this is because it isn’t catering to the same clientale or using the same business model as most of the other TV stations. It relies on subscriptions rather than advertising rates. So, it makes sense that HBO would care more about its 99 Emmy nominations than the number of eyeballs hopping over each week. It’s a pretty enviable position to be in.

Still, in the case of True Blood, creativity actually peaked a few seasons ago yet has continued to do pretty well in the ratings, so I don’t think HBO has totally eschewed giving fans what they want. In any event, the network really seems to know what it is doing, and should continue to do so as it puts together future programming for that summer Sunday slot. In the meantime, if you’d like to tune in for what is likely to be a memorable episode of True Blood, you can catch it on Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET.

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