The epic success of "The Walking Dead," is creating plenty of opportunities.

Seth Gilliam is the newest actor to have the opportunity to make a name for himself on the show. Gilliam, best known for playing Sugar Watkins in 1997's "Starship Troopers" and Ellis Carver in HBO's "The Wire," will be a regular on season 5, according to Deadline. Gilliam is given the fake name of Michael Todd in the show's breakdown, but his character description is similar to that of comic book character Father Gabriel.

"Michael is described as having two sides, displaying a friendly, puckish humor but also having a haunted side stemming from a dark secret.," Deadline reports.

Gilliam will also continue his recurring role of Dr. Alan Deaton on MTV's "Teen Wolf."

In addition, Robert Kirkman, creator of "The Walking Dead" comic books, obviously knows how great of an oppportunity it is to have his story turned into an AMC show. Still, the show writer and executive producer doesn't plan on taking advantage of this.

"Just because something goes a long time doesn't mean it's being milked," Kirkman wrote in Issue #126 of his series when a fan asked him not to milk "The Walking Dead" show and end it by season 7 or 8. "We'll be lucky to make it to season 7, but if we go beyond that it'll be because we have a story to tell."

Although Kirkman thinks season 8 is a long shot, he does believe that there would be plenty material.

"We certainly won't be able to tell the full story of the comics in seven seasons of the show," he added.

Meanwhile, Josh McDermitt, who only joined the show in season 4 as Dr. Eugene Porter, is already reaping the benefits of the new role. On Sunday, he played George Payton in a guest appearance on another hit AMC show, "Mad Men."

"I went in and just started making jokes about my hair, and ['Mad Men' creator] Matthew Weiner said he's a really big fan of 'The Walking Dead,' and he was excited I was cast on that show," McDermitt told the AMC blog. "... That's kind of the goal in my career now, to do the AMC trifecta. If you could somehow get me on 'TURN,' I'd love to do that. Everybody's been very welcoming on these AMC shows. Especially when I came to 'The Walking Dead,' Andrew Lincoln drove an hour south of Atlanta to where we were shooting -- wasn't even working that day -- just to meet us and have lunch. And then when I stepped on the set of 'Mad Men,' Vincent Kartheiser and I play old friends and instantly he's putting me in a headlock and saying, 'Hey, welcome to the show.' I'm not getting this on other shows."

Season 5 of "The Walking Dead' begins this October.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.

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