Planet Earth has fallen into the cold, dead hands of the Walkers.
At least, that’s according to The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple, who recently warned viewers that in season 8, the world belongs to those undead flesh-munchers scattered across the globe. It’s a timely reminder, too, given how much of The Walking Dead‘s marketing campaign is often dedicated to the human conflict bubbling away beneath the surface, with the show’s eighth season poised to bring a sense of closure to the battle brewing between Negan and Rick Grimes.
War is (almost) upon us, then, but as Gimple points out, part and parcel of what makes The Walking Dead so special is the unrelenting zombies. They’re a constant source of danger, essentially, even if you can’t see them on screen. And though this year’s instalment will place a particular focus on the “all-out war” involving Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom, along with Negan and his Saviors, the Walkers won’t be given short shrift in season 8.
Per ComicBook.com, Gimple began by stressing that after 99 episodes, the world has now fallen into the hands of the Walkers, and that our human survivors are squabbling over a piece of ground that, in reality, doesn’t belong to them anymore. Kinda puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
The world is the walkers. But doing that in a very atmospheric way. Like, feeling them all around, and the camera not being right on them, but this little reminder in the corner of the screen, or the far background, or mid-ground, or foreground. Just this constant reminder that these groups of humans are running around over this piece of ground, and yet it isn’t their world anymore.
The Walking Dead season 8 will claw its way onto AMC on Sunday, October 22nd and in case you missed it, yesterday brought forth a gripping new teaser trailer, one in which Rick Grimes took the fight to Negan and his sinister Saviors.