With AMC's hit "The Walking Dead" about to enter its seventh season, and its spinoff "Fear the Walking Dead" set to return for a third season in 2017, one question on the lips of fans is just how long the franchise might remain on television. While no one appears to know the precise answer, AMC Networks President and CEO Josh Sapan believes "The Walking Dead" could easily last as long as "Star Trek," which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, Sapan said the AMC series had "incredible long life left in it," and that it could carry on for "many, many more years."

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Sapan went on to note that "Star Trek" has been canceled and relaunched a number of times over the decades before affirming, “We do think that we have a franchise that is one of the rare franchises that you occasionally come across in what we do for a living."

AMC certainly appears to have had more faith in the apocalyptic premise behind the series NBC, which reportedly wanted "The Walking Dead" to be a zombie-less procedural.

At the same event, Sapan also drew attention to the fact that "if you look at cable dramas, and you look at the top 10, we have five of them. And that’s a pretty good place to be."

"The Walking Dead" returns for its seventh season Oct. 23 on AMC.

(via TheWrap)