Hot on the heels of announcing The Walking Dead‘s October 22 season 8 premiere date, AMC revealed more about the mega-popular zombie drama at its packed Comic-Con panel. The shambling hordes of San Diego Comic-Con braved the scorching temperatures to fill the massive auditorium where The Walking Dead‘s cast and crew assembled to reveal what challenges Rick Grimes and the survivors will face in the season ahead. The panel began with a tasteful tribute to John Bernecker, the stuntman who was fatally injured while making the show, and gave fans a look into the future of the show with a season 8 trailer.
The trailer begins with a crude, but prophetic statement from Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s sneering villain Negan, telling Gabriel that he “hopes [he’s] got his shittin’ pants on.” When the troubled priest asks the Lucille-wielding lunatic why, Negan replies with a simple, “Because you are about to shit your pants.” It isn’t exactly Shakespeare, but there’s a menace in the crudeness, especially considering the impact Negan made on the survivors in their first encounter. And the second impact he made. Basically this dude has no qualms about murdering anyone who gets in his way.
While last season introduced us to a larger world–a direct reference to the comic book storyline of the same name–this season seems to be pointing us towards the “All Out War” storyline, which as you might presume pits the survivors of Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom against Negan and his brutal Saviors. While the trailer is chock full of explosive action, gratuitous (but appreciated) shots of Daryl Dixon riding a motorcycle, and assault weapons firing at full bore, the most shocking scene in the trailer came at the very end. After focusing on a wooden cane, the camera dissolved to reveal a bearded, gray-haired Rick Grimes lying in bed, which should come as a shock to everyone exception those who have been reading the comics. While fans have been speculating for a while that a time skip was imminent, this trailer all but confirms that we will be making a significant advancement in the show’s chronology
What do you want to see happen in season 8? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter.
Image: AMC
Additional reporting by Ben Gaspin.
