Third show got green light

The comic book that spawned the mega-hit The Walking Dead is ending but zombies won’t be leaving TV any time soon.

In a well-disguised surprise, Wednesday’s issue of The Walking Dead is being described as the last one that comic book stores will get. It will be 84 pages--more than twice as long as the usual 32-pages. It also contains a six-page afterword by creator Robert Kirkman.

AMC Networks, which adapted The Walking Dead to become one of the highest rated shows in cable TV history, said it has more guts and gore for viewers.

“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,” the network said in a statement.

Related: Inside AMC’s Upfront: More ‘Walking Dead’ for Advertisers

The Walking Dead had its TV debut in 2010. A spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead was launched in 2015.

In April, AMC announced that it will be launching a third series in what it refers to as The Walking Dead universe. The third series will ensure that AMC will have new episodes of a high-rate zombie drama on its schedule from Super Bowl through Thanksgiving.

AMC has also said it is working on a series of movies starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, who left the show last year during season 9.

Grimes had been killed off in the comic book.