The Walking Dead comics suddenly come to an end with a surprise last issue: 'We're done'

After more than 15 years, the Walking Dead comic book series has just come to an end with a totally unannounced final issue.

The latest issue of the post-apocalyptic zombie series that was adapted into the hit AMC show of the same name might have seemed like any ordinary installment, but it's revealed to readers within that it's the last one, Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter write. Writer Robert Kirkman in the issue's final pages informs fans that "it's over ... we're done," explaining that no announcement was made beforehand because he hates the feeling of being conscious that an ending is coming while experiencing a story's conclusion.

“The Walking Dead has always been built on surprise," Kirkman writes, per EW. "...It just felt wrong and against the very nature of this series not to make the actual end as surprising as all the big deaths."

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Kirkman had on Monday warned fans to be "very careful online" until the issue is released, calling it a "big" one while not tipping his hand that it was actually the ending. In fact, The New York Times notes that fake descriptions of forthcoming issues helped throw fans off the scent, with the description for this now-final installment not sounding particularly significant at all. And, of course, the fact that the 200th issue was approaching made an ending in issue 193 seem even more unlikely. The now-penultimate issue of the series had killed off a major character, but it wasn't known at the time that this was signaling the series' immediate conclusion.

Still, The Walking Dead's presence on television doesn't look close to wrapping up. The Hollywood Reporter notes that several Walking Dead films, plus another spin-off TV series, are on the way after AMC CEO Josh Sapan said last year the universe of the show will continue "over the next decade, plus."