As the eighth season of The Walking Dead approaches, it’s important to think about where we could be going this year. Here’s our take on Season Eight along with new pictures and clips from the upcoming season!
The Walking Dead wrecked us last season. The first eight episode were total devastation and the last eight were building up to what is the “all out war” arc from the comics. When we left the group at the season seven finale, Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel were our leaders as we move into this phase of the series.
Maggie has some work to do when it comes to Gregory, specifically killing him since he’s lining himself up with Negan pretty solidly.
Ezekiel has a good group of Kingdom fighters behind, including Morgan and Carol. Plus, he has Shiva.
Rick has Daryl back, Michonne and Carl. There are also lots of Alexandria residents who will step up along with members of our group from pre-ASZ: Tara, Rosita, Gabriel.
Still, where does this leave us now?
Negan will be out for blood after being pushed out of Alexandria and finding out that Maggie is alive and Ezekiel has been plotting on him for some time…also, he has a tiger.
This isn’t a time for Rick and company to back down, though. Expect them to come out swinging as Negan has been knocked down. Daryl is aware that Dwight could still be their spy on the inside, but it has become more and more apparent that Eugene has chosen his side and stands beside Negan.
Could the writers give Eugene a redemption arc before he dies? I don’t know when, but you know Eugene will eventually die. If they do choose to redeem Eugene, would they have him helping Dwight or trying to take Negan out on his own? That second option would require a lot of guts from Eugene, especially considering how much he doesn’t want to die.
He attaches himself to the most powerful person or group. For awhile it was Abraham then Rick, now it’s Negan. We’ll see how that pans out for him throughout the season.
Based on the teaser clips and SDCC trailer, we know that Gabriel ends up captured by Negan and that Daryl has outstanding aim while riding his motorcycle. We also get the sense from one teaser clip that Rick is ready to hand over the reins of leadership after they kill Negan.
In fact, he tells Maggie he’ll be following her when this is all done…could this be where the time jump comes in and we finally see older Rick?
If we do get older Rick this season, that means that Negan will be captured like he is in the comics…or will they kill him?
There are so many questions going into season eight, but we at least have one answer.
The season premiere is titled, “Mercy” and will run for 67 minutes. This is much shorter than previous season premieres, but it’s time for the writers to tighten up their story lines, in my opinion. Just because you can have a ninety minute episode, doesn’t mean you should.
Check out the clips below (including a sweet Rick/Judith moment) and the photo gallery with shots from Season Eight below! Please take a close look at Negan, Eugene, and Dwight’s picture. They look like they’re about to drop the most emo album the zombie apocalypse has ever seen.
The Walking Dead will premiere on October 22 at 9/8c on AMC.