The Walking Dead season 9 is in safe hands. Or so says Greg Nicotero.
During a recent interview with Metro (h/t ComicBook.com), the show’s long-serving executive producer was asked about the change in personnel that will see Angela Kang, writer of “The Big Scary U” and many other episodes of The Walking Dead, come in to replace Scott M. Gimplse as showrunner.
From October onwards, Gimple will assume the role of chief content officer for the entire Walking Dead vision, a position which encompasses all forms of media such as video games, television, and spinoffs like Fear The Walking Dead. It’s set for a major crossover of its own thanks to the oncoming arrival of Morgan Jones, but in the eyes of Greg Nicotero, Kang is perhaps the perfect successor to the outgoing Scott Gimple.
What I’ll say about Angela is she’s an amazing writer. She’s written some of our best episodes. I worked very closely with Angela the first episode I directed which was Season Two when Dale is killed, and that episode was such a fascinating study because there’s so much going on. If you go back and look at season two – which I still feel has a tremendous amount of merit for the show because it really allowed the characters to become grounded – there’s so much going on.
He continued:
There’s the 12 Angry Men aspect of Dale trying to fight for everybody or fight for Randall to live. Then you have Carl in the swamp and Shane. There’s so much going on and it’s so intricately put together and Angela wrote that episode. She’s been written a lot of our great episodes and she’s been with us since season two so I think she’s got a great voice.
And it seems work on The Walking Dead season 9 is already underway. Closer to home, this Sunday’s episode, “Do Not Send Us Astray,” will see the Hilltop come under attack, as Morgan Jones struggles to confront his own inner demons. Also of note, it looks like the show’s ratings are finally on the turn, after weeks of lowly scores among that crucial 18-49 demographic. So perhaps season 8 and its “very satisfying” finale can go out on a high note after all? Time will tell.