The Walking Dead is officially back tomorrow night! What can you expect from the season eight premiere? Take a look at these clips and stills then get ready for war! Here’s your preview for “Mercy”!
TWD family, the wait is over!
Last season ended with our group in a much better place than the previous season finale, and we have Hilltop and The Kingdom at our backs. Then there’s Dwight playing Negan from inside the Sanctuary. So many puzzle pieces have fallen into place that we can finally move onto the ‘all out war’ arc from the comics.
AMC released a first look at the cold open from the premiere, and Rick is rallying the troops and also looks to be contemplating an easier existence…as seen from the cane and shots of flowers that were part of the SDCC trailer coda.
You can find the sneak peak HERE.
Let’s break down this cold open.
Rick is obviously deep in his thoughts. Everyone else is preparing for war, and he’s getting his head in the game for his big speech where he tells everyone that this world is “theirs by right!” He draws a line in the sand, saying that people like them, that can find common ground, should have control of this new world.
People who use and kill to carve it up, should die. They don’t need to celebrate killing them or be ashamed by it either. It’s just a truth. Then, as if he’s trying to convince himself of it, he repeatedly says that he will be the one to kill Negan.
Daryl sends Dwight a nice little note that reads “Tomorrow” after popping his bike tire with an arrow. Let’s be real, that was rude. That tire might be hard to replace, but at the same time there is no love lost between these two, so I’m good with this level of petty.
Meanwhile, Tara found the last pack of edible Twizzlers and is timing walker herds with Carol.
Now, here’s a random thought not dealing with the characters but still cold open related:
The camera stays on a clock that’s set to 8:20 for several seconds, which could translate to 8.4. Look for something interesting to happen in this episode simply because the writers tend to use clocks to denote episode numbers or episodes of importance. If you reverse it, it could be 4.8 which is a nod to the midseason finale of season four where Hershel is killed and the prison falls. Maybe another sanctuary falls in this episode? Or another beloved character dies? We’ll see.
While we’re on the subject of theories, I have a thought about old!Rick.
I feel like we’ll keep seeing these little bits of “older” Rick throughout the season while moving Carl into a more central role. We’ve already seen that he’ll be doing a shot-for-shot scene that mirrors Rick in episode one of the series (clip below). All of this is setting us up for the time jump at the end of the season that will feature old Rick, prisoner Negan, and leader Carl.
Hell, I’ll even go so far to say that the writers will play with the theory that Rick is in coma (even though Kirkman has said that’s not how it works) by having a sleeping Rick “dream” this season as it actually happened, but when he wakes up, it’s a couple of years down the road, so it makes the transition easier for the writers.
Now, like any theory, this one will likely go up in smoke, but that’s half the fun, right?
What are you theories for season eight? Do you think we’ll see any major character deaths? What about Carl as the central protagonist to the story?
Before you watch “Mercy” tomorrow, take a look at these episode stills and sneak peaks!
