With only a few days standing between now and The Walking Dead‘s season 8 premiere – October 22nd is the date for your diaries – the show’s impassioned fanbase is currently itching for another instalment in the Rick Grimes saga.
Kicking things off with the super-sized “Mercy,” the season 8 opener is said to be The Walking Dead‘s “most ambitious” episode yet, which is rather fitting given that it’ll write its name in the history books as episode number 100. Reaching such a milestone is cause for celebration, though while speaking to Variety, executive producer and director Greg Nicotero stressed that “Mercy” is a heartfelt thank you to the show’s community.
Echoing his own comments about nostalgia and nods to the past, Nicotero told viewers to be on the lookout for “two or three sequences” in Sunday’s premiere.
There are probably two or three sequences in the first episode that I was particularly excited about doing that people will instantly recognize. It’s sort of a thank-you letter for people who have been with us all along and nodding to little things here and there. Some of them might be a little more obvious, and some of them might be super subtle.
It’s a very exciting time in The Walking Dead fanbase, what with season 8 set to herald a full-blown war. Yes, the three factions spread across the Hilltop, the Kingdom, and the Alexandria Safe-Zone are about to give Negan a taste of his own medicine, and front of the queue is Daryl Dixon.
Season 8 of The Walking Dead will get going in earnest on Sunday, October 22nd – October 23rd for those across the pond, when AMC’s zombie flagship will premiere via Fox UK – and we know “Mercy” will run a little longer than usual. Series stalwart Greg Nicotero is behind the lens for episode number 100, while Rosemary Rodriguez has been tasked with helming its follow-up, “The Damned.”
