We’ve heard a lot of comments from the cast and crew of The Walking Dead promising us that the upcoming season will be something of a course correction after last year disappointed many viewers.
In response to criticisms that it had become too slow, season 8 will apparently be more “action-packed.” Not only that, but after things became pretty gloomy last year, Norman Reedus has now promised that when The Walking Dead returns, it will feel like “the original show” again. Going even further, we now have it on good authority that Negan won’t hog as much of the focus going forward, which will be a relief to many.
The show’s exec producer, Greg Nicotero, has revealed the opening shot of the season 8 premiere, which is also the 100th episode. While it sounds like a simple moment, it’ll actually reaffirm which character is really the star.
“We start Episode 8.01 on a close-up of Rick Grimes and we really get a sense that he’s driving our story, not Negan.”
Interestingly, we may have already seen the opening close-up shot that Nicotero mentions. At the end of the recent Comic-Con trailer, we got a clip of an aged Rick, with greying hair and beard, waking up in a bright, sunny room. It’s possible that this scene, referred to as the “Old Man Rick” moment, could be some sort of flash-forward featured at the beginning of the season. That would be a neat way of celebrating the show reaching a massive milestone, don’t you think? Instead of looking to the past, it gives us a sneak peak at the future.
Alternatively, Nicotero could be talking about some kind of dream sequence detailing an alternate happy future for Rick and his family and friends. If that’s indeed what it is, then it could follow on from the similar scene featured in the season 7 premiere which saw Glenn and Abraham brought back from the dead.
One way or another, fans will get to see what that first scene entails when The Walking Dead season 8 premieres on AMC on Sunday October 22nd.