Robert Kirkman Says The Walking Dead Is Working Towards Its Ending

07/20/2017 08:34 pm EDT

The Walking Dead has been dubbed the "never-ending zombie series" by its creator but now Robert Kirkman has the ending in sight.

During his panel at San Diego Comic Con on Thursday, Kirkman moderated the discussion himself, offering the fans opportunities to have their personal questions answered rather than a host's.

"When I first started Walking Dead, I knew about the prison story line," Kirkman said. "So, I knew that they would eventually live in a prison, I knew they would eventually encounter the Governor, I knew there'd be some stuff that happens and I was working towards that. By the time I was at issue 6, I thought of stuff past that, so that's kind of how it worked. I had this 50 or 60 issue chunk of story and every issue I wrote, it just kept moving, so I always had this big road map ahead of me."

"There was an ending I had in mind that I was thinking, 'Oh, this would be kind of a cool ending.' I got to a point where it should've happened and I was like, 'I'm not done yet.' And this was before the show. It got to a point where I would've had to start building to it and I was like, 'Nah.' So, I just threw that out and then I just kept going because I had all kinds of cool stuff I wanted to do."

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It was fairly recently when the lightbulb for the new ending of The Walking Dead lit up above Kirkman's shoulders. "I think about two or three years ago, I had a pretty good idea for a definitive ending," Kirkman said. "I have known that since then and been working towards that, so I know exactly where I'm going and what's gonna happen when I get there."

He's not sharing it, though.

"I haven't written it down or anything so, you know, I don't know why I would do that. It seems to practical and responsible but I remember it. So, I'm working towards that but it's a very long way off.

"I feel like that helps. I feel like the book, since I know it's gonna be such a long journey, we're always building to something and there's always something new that can happen and you really have to do a lot of planning, especially at this point. It's actually more difficult to write The Walking Dead than its ever been because we've done a lot of stuff. To be able to top yourself, and keep things fresh, and keep things interesting... It gets harder and harder and harder as you go. Knowing what the end game is and working towards that, makes it a little bit easier."

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Fear the Walking Dead returns on September 10. The Walking Dead Season 8 premieres on October 22. For complete coverage and insider info, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

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