Though it remains consistently great television, there’s no denying that The Walking Dead does have a tendency to fall into a very familiar pattern of going long stretches without anything particularly eventful happening. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with character-focused drama (that is the basis of the show, after all), but when fans have been promised “all-out war” and all they’re given is a short (though admittedly, exciting) skirmish in the season 7 finale, there were always going to be disappointments.
During an interview with EW, executive producer Denise Huth expressed her excitement about the season 8 premiere – which also happens to be the show’s 100th episode – and teased a radically different season overall, which she promises will leave fans satisfied:
It’s a ton of action. It’s super exciting. I think it will be really, really satisfying. As a fan of the show — and I am a fan of the show — when I read it, it was like ‘Awww, I can’t wait! It’s going to be great!’ It’s worth the worth the wait to get to this moment.
After the horrifically bleak way the last season kicked off, the final few episodes saw a change in tone as Rick and the Alexandrians decided to take a stand against the tyranny of Negan and the Saviors. Hugh suggests that this is going to continue into season 8 as well, now that “the characters aren’t in that dark, down place” anymore.
We already know that Rick is going to pay a little visit to Negan’s doorstep early on in season 8 thanks to this leaked BTS image, so perhaps we really will get that war we were promised. We’ll find out for sure when The Walking Dead returns to our screens in October.
