Ever since its debut back in 2010, on AMC The Walking Dead has proven an absolute hit with both likely fans of the zombie survival genre, as well as with newcomers. The show takes place in the state of Georgia, following a zombie apocalypse and follows a group of survivors as they try to stay safe in the dangerous new world filled with deadly “walkers” and violent human survivors, as well as the dilemmas they face in their attempt to maintain their humanity. Developed by Frank Darabont and based on the comic book of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, the show is now in its fifth season, having been renewed for at least a sixth season, as well. If you remain unconvinced, here are a further 5 reasons to watch this show.

1.     It’s probably the best TV series based on a comic book ever made

While popular culture seems to have been flooded by high-quality comics adaptations, the big names appeared to have stuck with feature film so far, offering critical and commercial successes like The Dark Knight or The Avengers, TV series have been deprived of such crossovers, bar some notable 90s cult classic like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Tick. What’s more, the source material is not rendered redundant by the show, due to the myriad of liberties the latter takes with the plot, leaving much of the original story yet to be explored.

2.     It’s the best time to get into it

What with three more episodes until the mid-season break for season 5, you have until February to finally schedule a marathon of the previous seasons. Being able to rip through four and a half seasons at your own pace is a luxury that was not available to those that started watching the show starting with season 1, back in 2010. As with many TV series, season 2 and season 3 hold the most consistently positive reviews, giving you the opportunity to see the best the show has to offer before continuing the season 5 which, after a somewhat more slow season 4, appears to have swayed back both critics and fans and, if it does manage to sustain the pace it has set for itself, might become the best season yet.

3.      You can watch it in so many places

Outside the obviously TV option, if you like to set the pace yourself and stream TV series,  all you have to do is to go on AMC The Walking Dead. For the price of the channels’ basic package you can watch full episodes on www.amc.com. Besides amc.com, every single episode of the first four seasons is now on Netflix and are just waiting for you to dig into them. If you are more of an old-school consumer that watches digital distribution and online streaming with a suspicious eye – or maybeyour internet connection is not that fast – all four  complete seasons are available on DVD.

4.     There’s plenty of content beyond the TV series.

Obviously the comic book series that inspired the show is a great place to start if you just can’t get enough Dead. First issued in 2003 and ongoing, the now 134 issues strong series became an instant classic long before the TV series, being one of the most talked about comic book series in recent years. Moreover, adding to the already four and a half seasons that you can dig into right now, a number of free webisodes, Internet-exclusive short clips, are also available, working to further develop the Walking Dead world and offer background on some of the characters. Another perk is the wide array of merchandise in various online stores that further brings together the show’s fan base.

5.     And then, there’s the games.

In 2012, adventure game veterans Telltale Games started releasing an episodic video game based on the series, followed by a second season the following year. Unlike the usual rampage type of game, the series insists more on moral dilemmas and important decisions by the player, rather than action, garnering the game huge critical appraisal, including over 90 “Game of the Year” awards. If something more action packed is, however, more your speed, 2016 will see the release of a cooperative first-person shooter based not on the AMC The Walking Dead, but on the original comic book, where players can join up with friends to wreak havoc among the hordes of walkers, biters and lurker.