AMC Renews THE WALKING DEAD For 3rd Season

AMC has announced that it will renew it's series THE WALKING DEAD for a third season.  The second season of the zombie drama premiered earlier this month, attracting record cable ratings for the network.

Based on one of the most successful and popular comic books of all time, written by Robert Kirkman, AMC's THE WALKING DEAD captures the ongoing human drama following a zombie apocalypse. The series follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers, Strike Back), who are traveling in search of a safe and secure home. However, instead of the zombies, it is the living who remain that truly become the walking dead. Jon Bernthal (The Pacific, The Ghost Writer) plays Shane Walsh, Rick's sheriff's department partner before the apocalypse, and Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), is Rick's wife, Lori Grimes. Additional cast include: Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Jeffrey DeMunn, Chandler Riggs, Iron E. Singleton and Melissa McBride. Guest stars include: Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson and Pruitt Taylor Vince.

The first season of The Walking Dead won the Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation and was nominated for Best Actor on Television (Andrew Licoln), Best Actress on Television (Sarah Wayne Calllies), Best Guest Starring Role on Television (Steven Yeun), and Best Supporting Actress on Television (Laurie Holden). It also received a Director's Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series' - Night (Frank Darabont), a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series - Drama, and a Television Critics Association Award nomination for Outstanding New Program of the Year. In addition, The Walking Dead recently won the Emmy award for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special; and was nominated for Emmys in Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series.

THE WALKING DEAD airs on Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.