In the no surprise news of the day, AMC Network has already renewed THE WALKING DEAD for an eighth season exactly one week ahead of its season seven premiere. It was practically guaranteed that a renewal for an eighth season was coming but I guess the only surprise here is how early they announced the news.
We’re all waiting with baited breath to see who’s head is at the end of Negan’s bat and which key character will be killed off. If you think you know…you don’t is what’s coming from AMC, so we’ll have to sit on it for one more week people.
The news of the much-expected return of the series, based on the Robert Kirkman-created comics, came at the star of a special two-hour TWD retrospect that the cabler was airing on Sunday.
Starting with the series’ 100th episode, the 16-episode eighth season will debut in late 2017 – with a more-than-likely October premiere date. At the same time Sunday, AMC also announced that TWD aftershow The Talking Dead, hosted by Chris Hardwick, will be returning for a new season as well.
As for next week’s Season 7 premiere, the mystery of just who Negan killed off has bedeviled fans of the show since the surprisingly controversial cliffhanger ending to season 6. The show has played coy since then, playing up the uncertainty largely because the identity of the victim who was killed off in the same scene in Kirkman’s comics is well-known (though we won’t spoil it here.) Does this coyness indicate someone other than that character might die? Possibly, but we can, at least, rule out main character Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), confirmed as a survivor in a trailer released last week during New York Comic-Con.
The Walking Dead Season 7 debuts with “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” episode on October 23.
Source: Deadline
