As Hurricane Irma continues to sweep through the nation, numerous film and TV productions have been shut down. Most recently, Marvel pumped the brakes on both Avengers 4 and Ant-Man and the Wasp and now, AMC has done the same with The Walking Dead, temporarily halting work on season 8 (which is shooting in Georgia) as of today, September 11th.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that the show has had to stop shooting, as earlier this summer, production was paused after the tragic loss of stuntman Jon Bernecker. It’s unknown how long it’ll be before things get back up and running again, but the network has revealed that they should know more later this week.
Either way, it won’t have any effect on The Walking Dead‘s premiere, given that it’s already been shot and is in the can, ready to debut on October 22nd.
At that point, we’ll see Rick Grimes mount a full-blown assault on Negan and his demented Saviors. By calling upon the communities of Alexandria, the Hilltop and the Kingdom, Andrew Lincoln’s leader is about to find himself in the midst of all out war, one that promises a breathless culmination to the battle between Negan and Rick. That conflict will seemingly ensure that season 8 zips along at breakneck speed, too, which ought to allay fears that the latest batch of episodes will succumb to the same pacing problems that affected season 7.
The Walking Dead returns to our screens late next month – just don’t expect much of an explanation for the “Old Man Rick” scene right off the bat. Ditto for a potential crossover with AMC’s sibling series, Fear The Walking Dead, after Daniel Sharman (Troy Otto) labeled any major narrative conjunction to be a “bad idea.”
