Keep year ears to the ground, Walking Dead fans, as a really big announcement is coming our way soon. As for what that announcement is going to be? That remains entirely mysterious, for the time being. But this comes directly from Scott M. Gimple, who used to serve as showrunner on The Walking Dead but has since been promoted to Chief Content Officer for the brand over at AMC. So when he says something big is coming, it's probably worth paying attention to.

Scott M. Gimple made the reveal on the latest episode of Talking Dead, which aired following the Fear the Walking Dead season 4 finale which, by most accounts, proved to be rather disappointing. In any case, while sitting next to Fear the Walking Dead showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, Gimple discussed what his role is within the framework of the Walking Dead universe, while also teasing that a big announcement is coming our way soon. Here's what he had to say about it.

"I work on both shows. I help these gentlemen, I help [The Walking Dead showrunner] Angela Kang. We work on the stories together, I consult on the episodes as they go through, and producing. And then beyond that, working on the future of The Walking Dead. And per that, we're gonna have something to discuss. We're gonna have a family meeting, all of the Walking Dead fans, people who haven't watched the show, people who are going to watch the show, we're gonna talk about something really big soon."

So what could this really big thing possibly be? Season 9 is getting ready to premiere this weekend and, as fans of the show are likely well aware by now, this is going to be Andrew Lincoln's last season as Rick Grimes. Could the network be making some sort of announcement soon about the future of the flagship series, given Lincoln's departure? That would make some sense.

It was also recently revealed that AMC has no plans on ending The Walking Dead any time soon, as they intended to keep the universe going for at least another decade. That will almost certainly include new shows. Is it possible that Scott M. Gimple is teasing another spin-off? Perhaps less likely, but not at all out of the question. Anything else would be pure and utter guesswork at this point without any further details. In any event, fans should brace themselves for something substantial relating to the hit zombie series in the relatively near future.

For now, all we can do is hopelessly speculate. The network likely doesn't want to overshadow the season 9 premiere with some splashy announcement, so this big news, whatever it ends up being, is probably at least a couple of weeks away. What we know for sure is that The Walking Dead season 9 premiere is set for Sunday, October 7 on AMC, which will be followed by a new episode of Talking Dead.