The Walking Dead season 7: This is why the word 'zombie' is never used

It turns out horror maestro George A Romero doesn't exist in this show's universe

For all of its descriptions as "that zombie show," The Walking Dead hasn't once used the 'z' word in its seven-year history.

Comic book creator Robert Kirkman has now divulged why he made the decision to fully omit the word from his source material.

Speaking to US host Conan O'Brien, he said: "Well, zombie lore is very popular. We wanted to avoid that notion of, 'Hey, why doesn't that character just shoot that zombie in the head because it saw all those movies I saw.

"It felt like having people not use that word would kind of separate it from that, make it a little bit more clear."

Romero is the acclaimed filmmaker behind the seminal Living Dead trilogy including films Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Surprisingly, he's not too keen on the AMC zombie series.

The characters in the show primarily refer to the undead as walkers with differentf actions each having their own term. In the past, there's been biters, rotters and - most recently - bobbers.

Here are our five major talking points from the show's latest episode, 'Sing Me a Song,' which immortalised a classic moment from Kirkman's comic book series.

The Walking Dead season 7 airs its midseason finale in the US on Sunday. It'll be shown in the UK the following evening at 9pm on FOX. You can watch the dramatic trailer - which hints at bloodshed - here.