In a flurry of new game announcements from Telltale Games, the developer has officially revealed that the next season of its long-running series The Walking Dead is in production with a planned release for 2018. The developer has temporarily dubbed the release The Final Season, indicating that Telltale's journey in Robert Kirkman's zombie apocalypse universe will soon come to an end.

The news came today via the Telltale Games Summer 2017 Update, seen below. Long-time fans of the series will no doubt rejoice to learn that The Walking Dead heroine Clementine will take center stage once more, with Melissa Hutchison returning to provide her voice. The Final Season is only a working title at this time and will most likely change long before the game's release, but it raises the question of what Telltale Games has in mind for Clementine this time around. Characters in The Walking Dead universe - playable and non-playable alike - often meet grisly ends, so players will most likely worry that Clementine could be in trouble this time around.

Nonetheless, bringing back Clementine as the main character may reinvigorate fans of the series. While The Walking Dead: A New Frontier received a fair amount of praise, many gamers felt disappointed that Clementine was no longer the focus and relegated to a side character. It remains to be seen if Javier or any other characters who appeared in A New Frontier will return for The Final Season, but if Telltale follows the pattern of its prior entries to the franchise, players can probably expect at least a cameo or two.

It's a good time to be a fan of the decision-making stories Telltale Games is known for. The developer is hitting hard with titles in the near future, revealing continuations of The Wolf Within and Batman: The Telltale Series. Between the new announcements, Minecraft Season 2's reveal last month, and Guardians of the Galaxy actively releasing new episodes, fans of the developer should have plenty to keep them busy until Clementine makes her return in The Walking Dead: The Final Season.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is set to release in 2018 for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices.