Sci-fi fans have been given a lot of good news during this year’s Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, and we are happy to report it. AMC helped to pile it on by announcing that the next season of The Walking Dead, which was ordered shortly after season two began, will have 16 episodes, three more than the current second season, and ten more than the inaugural season.

AMC Blogs also reports that AMC‘s international broadcast partner FOX International Channels (FIC) will follow the 16 episode order and structure a similar schedule worldwide.

In conjunction with their turn at the TCA’s, AMC released a new poster for the second half of the second season:

Got that?

The Walking Dead, starring Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, and Laurie Holden, returns for the second half of season 2 on Sunday, February 12 at 9/8c on AMC.