From low-key horror adaptation to one of the biggest shows on television, The Walking Dead‘s rise to superstardom has been nothing short of remarkable.
Now on the verge of its eighth season, AMC’s flagship is also approaching a very special milestone in its decorated run: the fabled 100th episode. As things stand, the so-far untitled season 8 premiere is set to go down as The Walking Dead‘s historic century, and now, to make sure it’s an extra special outing, the network’s announced that it’ll get an extended runtime.
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, as the season 7 premiere also ran for longer than usual, staying on our screens for 66 minutes. For season 8, it’ll be 67 minutes and though not confirmed just yet, we imagine that several other episodes will also get stretched out a bit this year. After all, extended runtimes are nothing new in the world of The Walking Dead and while not always used wisely, the extra minutes are still appreciated.
Sure, some episodes have felt a bit padded with their additional scenes, but most of the time, the longer length makes for some truly great television. How the premiere will fare is anyone’s guess, but expectations are certainly high, for on October 22nd, we’ll finally 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.”
