After the strong performance of the first season, The Walking Dead got the second season renewal pretty quickly and was bumped up to thirteen episodes as opposed to the six that the first got. The second season had its second episode this past Sunday night and based on the strength of those two episodes, which helps to ensure that the show is not a flash in the pan from last year, AMC has ordered up a third season for the comic book based series. The season premiere this year netted the network with 7.3 million viewers, 4.8 million of which were in the highly coveted 18-49 demographic. That may not seem like much for most primetime network series (which are actually struggling a fair bit this year), but it’s the most ever for a basic cable premiere. The second episode slipped to 6.7 million viewers, but with timeshifting coming into play, these are very, very strong numbers and essentially guaranteed a pickup at this point. Things can change over course of the season and if the show dips significantly, a cut order may be in place, but based on where it is now, 2012 will have a strong third season for the show. In addition to the AMC showings, Fox International Channels started its global launch for The Walking Dead this weekend, breaking pay-TV ratings’ records across the world and drawing more 10 million viewers in 122 countries for the season premiere.

“Today we are pleased to announce that the ‘dead’ shall live as we proudly renew The Walking Dead for a third season on AMC and, globally, with our terrific partners at Fox International Channels,” said Charlie Collier, AMC’s President.

[Source: Deadline ]