Here's When The Walking Dead Will Return in 2018

Warning: Spoilers for the latest episode ofThe Walking Deadpast this point.

After the momentous events of the Season 8 midseason finale of The Walking Dead, you'd be forgiven if you want to watch the next episode right now. But as is customary for the show, after the first half of the season we're going to be taking a little break until the show returns.

In a certain sense, that's good: the heart-wrenching episode, titled "How It's Gotta Be," saw the exit of longtime cast member Chandler Riggs*. So all told we could probably use a little time to mourn before coming back to kick some Savior butt.

As announced on Talking Dead, the show will be taking its regular two month break before returning to AMC on Feb. 25, 2018. This isn't too much of a surprise, as Walking Dead holds to a pretty tight schedule. When TV Guide visited the set of the show back this spring, we learned that the show is a year-round affair: it shoots through November, post-production continues into January, and then the writers' room opens again in February, just in time to launch the second half of the season.

And when it does, it'll have a Carl-shaped hole to fill. We'll see how Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) continues without his son for eight episodes in the back half -- and through the conclusion of his war with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

*He'll be back for the midseason premiere, though, and then he'll die for real.

The Walking Dead returns Sunday, Feb. 25 at 9/8c on AMC.