From Rick and Shane all the way through to Carol and Daryl, The Walking Dead has treated viewers to some truly memorable screen duos over the years. And that’s a tradition series showrunner Scott Gimple hopes to honor with the forthcoming eighth season.
Speaking during last night’s Preview Special, one in which Gimple also debunked a popular fan theory concerning Rick Grimes (spoilers: Andrew Lincoln’s lead character hasn’t spent the past 99 episodes living some vivid coma dream), The Walking Dead mainstay addressed the narrative underpinning season 8, and how it’ll allow for some truly compelling interactions between the show’s major characters.
We’ll see characters affect one another that we haven’t seen affect one another before, or even just thrown together that we haven’t seen thrown together. That’s been really satisfying.
Gimple then went on to discuss the narrative itself, all the while painting in broad strokes in order to keep spoilers at bay. These comments echo those promising a “breathless” eighth season, as Scott Gimple draws attention to how each instalment shifts between multiple characters, rather than adopting the ‘bottle episode’ mentality of focusing on a single figure among Rick’s group.
Per TVLine:
Because of the narrative that we’re following, the story this season is really spread out among all of the characters. And the story shifts quite a bit in single episodes between lots of different characters on a consistent basis, which is a little more unusual for the show.
Season 8 of The Walking Dead gets going in earnest on October 22nd, and we already have a fair understanding of the show’s opening moments. It’ll set in motion an all-out war, now that the battle lines have been drawn between Negan and his Saviors, and Rick Grimes and his newfound posse.
