Angela Kang, the current showrunner of AMC’s The Walking Dead, has been talking about the difficulties of keeping a show going after ten years. One important thing? Don’t save the good stuff for later.

The Walking Dead‘s ninth season is currently airing, and it has seen Rick Grimes depart the show (with Andrew Lincoln set for a trilogy of spinoff movies) and Maggie Rhee stepping away (with Lauren Cohan moving to ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier series). We’ve also seen The Whisperers introduced as a new villainous force, and let’s not forget that the season started with a time-jump.

They’re cramming a lot of stuff in at the moment, essentially, and it sounds like that is a very conscious decision. Speaking to Insider, Kang said this about plotting the series:

“It’s kind of just amazing that we’re going into the 10th season. It’s certainly a milestone that most people never get to cross and we’re so grateful to the fans around the world that have been on that journey with us. I’m approaching it as ‘I’ve got to make a great 10th season.’ I can’t assume anything… You can fall into a trap, just planning ahead and saving the great material for later. We always have to approach it as — we got to put the good material in now.”

This sounds like a very wise strategy to employ, especially when you consider that some previous seasons of The Walking Dead were accused of splitting characters up and delaying plotlines with filler just to pad out time.

We’ll keep bringing you The Walking Dead news as we hear it.