The battle lines have been drawn.
Coming out of The Walking Dead season 7, viewers knew fine well that October’s eighth season would herald a full-blown war, and based on SDCC’s momentous trailer (see above), AMC’s apocalyptic flagship is about to deliver on that promise.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly as part of the outlet’s ongoing TWD coverage, Daryl Dixon himself, Norman Reedus, talked more about what season 8 has in store for his gruff survivor. Last seen uncovering a mysterious figure beside the gates to Alexandria, Daryl is expected to feature prominently in October’s new run of episodes, and as Reedus tells EW, there will be numerous instances of his fan-favorite “going rogue.”
There are definite teams now. People are going to be rooting for one team or the other, and it does have more kick to it than it did. I mean, season 7 was difficult. It was super hard for all of us. But in season 8, the gang’s back together, and it’s full blown right now. It’s A versus B. It’s your home team fighting your biggest rival, so there definitely will be cheerleaders. You know, some of us are going rogue a little bit — like myself. There are a couple of some rogue moments in there.
Those teams Reedus is referring to are split between the Kingdom, the Hilltop and Alexandria, who have all pulled together to confront Negan and his monstrous Saviors. That’s all well and good, but it appears as though Daryl will be enacting his own form of revenge in six weeks’ time.
There’s no dilly-dallying with him. There’s no gray area right now with him. He’s on a mission to do one thing, and sometimes for the good of the group, you veer left a little bit, and he’s still veering right. So, like I said, he’s kind of going rogue a little bit in the beginning.
Season 8 of The Walking Dead gets going on October 22nd, and it’ll seemingly kick things off with a bang. Also of note, the as-yet-untitled premiere will usher in the show’s historic 100th episode, while series showrunner Scott Gimple has gone on record to confirm that no, Maggie’s baby won’t be born anytime during the eighth season.