The Walking Dead’s Carl tweets about season 8 script

Season seven of The Walking Dead has only just come to an end but fans are already itching to know how the Negan vs Rick battle is going to play out in season eight. And according to Chandler Riggs, the script is looking pretty damn good.

The Carl actor sent out a tweet revealing the cast has officially received their first script for the next series and, if his enthusiastic reaction is anything to go by, we should expect season eight to kick off with a bang.

The show’s star tweeted: “just finished reading 801 of twd and oooo man it’s good”.

Chandler, you tease!

Jeffrey Dean Morgan confirmed that shooting for the upcoming season will begin next week and no doubt the cast are excited as we are to find out how the looming war will unfold.

At the end of the last season, we saw Sasha die like a true hero, her suicide allowing the Alexandrians that one crucial opportunity to fight off the Saviors. However, the wrath of Negan is now out in full force and, after declaring war on his opponents, fans are wondering who could be next to face the dreaded Lucille.

Gimple has already teased that one character in particular could be in trouble. Speaking to Variety, the series showrunner talked about how Eugene is in an especially precarious position.

“He said he’s Negan in front of everybody,” Gimple explained. “He has still not found the strength to get over his fear. He’s still Negan after seeing everything Sasha is doing. I don’t think it looks good for Eugene.”

He added: “But with everything Sasha {Sonequa Martin-Green) said to him, maybe his courage is just lying dormant.”

Indeed, it was Eugene who gave Sasha the pill full of poison she used to kill herself and, now that Negan is suspicious of his new sidekick’s loyalty, there is no question the villain will be watching Eugene’s every move.

The Walking Dead season 8 is expected to return October 2017 to FOX in the UK. 

Will The Walking Dead season eight include a huge time jump?

The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple has suggested that there could be a big time jump in the show’s future.

As comic fans will know, The Walking Dead‘s comic-counterpart skipped forward a few years after the defeat of Negan and the Saviours. In that time away, the survivor communities known as Alexandria, The Hilltop, The Kingdom and The Sanctuary have all rebuilt themselves and regularly work together.

Of course, harmony doesn’t last forever, because that’s when the infamous Whisperers get involved.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gimple said: “For the people who read the comics, they’re going to be expecting this. We’re doing the book, we do all sorts of variations on it, and then we do things that are inspired by it and then we change things up with a remix.

“But I will say there are things that happen in that time jump that are referred to that are super interesting. And thus we might see some of that stuff.

“It might not be the same sort of jump, or we’ll do that two to five years in real time.”

Kirkman continued to clarify what he meant by adding that he wants to explore on-screen some of the events that were only referred after the time skip in the comics.

He added: “In general, I think there’s going to be a little bit more content that [creator Robert Kirkman] actually refers to.”

“There’s stuff in there that I was reading that I wondered about, and when I wonder about stuff that I like, I like getting into that stuff.

“We’re definitely going to honour it and do it, but we’re definitely going to have either more of it or possibly do it in a different way.”

The Walking Dead’s Scott Gimple reveals ‘it doesn’t look good’ for one character in season 8

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Walking Dead season seven finale.

Season seven of The Walking Dead has come to a close after the seriously intense finale that aired on Monday, and now showrunner Scott Gimple is gearing fans up for the next season in October.

Sasha died like a true hero in the conclusive episode, her suicide allowing the Alexandrians that crucial opportunity to take down the Saviors. But now Negan is not a happy bunny and, after declaring all-out war, fans are wondering who could be next to face Lucille.

Well, Gimple has already teased that one character in particular could be in trouble. Speaking to Variety, the series showrunner talked about how Eugene is in an especially precarious position.

“He said he’s Negan in front of everybody,” Gimple explained. “He has still not found the strength to get over his fear. He’s still Negan after seeing everything Sasha is doing. I don’t think it looks good for Eugene.”

He added: “But with everything Sasha {Sonequa Martin-Green) said to him, maybe his courage is just lying dormant.”

Indeed, it was Eugene who gave Sasha the pill full of poison she used to kill herself and, now that Negan is suspicious of his new sidekick’s loyalty, there is no question the villain will be watching Eugene’s every move.

Yesterday, Gimple also promised the upcoming season will get “intense and emotional” in a “different way”.

“I’d say Rick and the group are coming off a win and even with the loss of Sasha, she was such a huge part of that win,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.

“She wasn’t a victim, she was a team captain in some ways – and that’s a good way for them to start the season and a good place for them to be.

“This isn’t a time of them wringing their hands; it’s a time to descend into righteous battle, which is a serious thing.

“They’re not glib about it but there is something extremely freeing to these people to be involved in such a noble cause.”

The Walking Dead will return October 2017 on FOX. 

REVIEW: The Walking Dead S7 E16 ‘The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life’ is glorious yet flawed

After a season of slow and deliberate and sometimes painful buildup, The Walking Dead finally delivered the confrontation we’ve been waiting for in ‘The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life’. It was glorious.

‘The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life’ really had everything one could ask for in a season finale. There was an important death, ample action and twists a-plenty. Great strides were made in the plot. Finally Rick and Alexandria, for the first time all season, have survived an encounter with the Saviours on top. Put short, the season finale was a spectacle and showcase for how to make a season finale.

Of course, it was clear The Walking Dead was heading for a kind of positive conclusion after the horror and brutality of ‘The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be’ all the way back in October. This season has had a clear, if sometimes frustrating, arc that came to a close beautifully in the season finale. Some individual character arcs have also been on a long and powerful journey – none more so than Rick, who has gone from defiant, to broken, to hopeful, to defiant once more. Rick’s journey, played by an exemplary Andrew Lincoln, has been a sure highlight of the season.

That’s not to say ‘The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life’ was a perfect finale, because there were numerous flaws. In The Walking Dead‘s eagerness to conclude Sasha’s arc in the same way as Holly’s – yet not the same way as Holly’s – we got this bizarre decision to carry Sasha in a coffin from the Sanctuary to Alexandria. This kept it a surprise for the audience when Sasha emerged as a walker, but doesn’t really make any sense from Negan’s point of view. Elsewhere, some very convenient timing from the Kingdom and the Hill Top is the only reason Carl still has his skull and brain intact. We won’t even talk about the likelihood of King Ezekiel training Shiva to only take out enemies on the battlefield, like some sort of Game of Thrones-esque Direwolf.

It also feels like cheating that the only major character we have lost in the first battle in a war is Sasha, whom most suspected would kick the bucket by the season finale. Sasha’s death was for many a foregone conclusion, so the lack of an unexpected death feels a bit like The Walking Dead playing it safe after the backlash to the season premiere.

‘The First Day of the Rest Of Your Life’ did a lot to ask for forgiveness for that brutal season premiere and the dreary tone of part 7A. It offered the closure we never expected for Abraham and Glenn, brought our heroes out on top and maintained a sense of victory and optimism that felt nearly impossible back last year.

Abraham was right, the world has to keep turning. And The Walking Dead keeps getting better.

The Walking Dead’s showrunner Scott Gimple promises ‘righteous battle’ in season 8

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Walking Dead season seven finale.

The Walking Dead season seven has come to a close after an explosive finale last night (Monday), but series showrunner Scott Gimple is already promising big things from the next season.

Last night’s finale saw Rick finally launch the attack on Negan that we have all been waiting for and, boy, was it intense. There was a surprise betrayal from the junkyard community, the zombie-fication of Sasha and even a tiger attack that arrived just in time to save Carl from the swinging Lucille.

Although we’re still catching our breath after last night’s dramatic events, showrunner Scott Gimple is already preparing fans for more excitement in season eight, which will arrive sometime during October.

Now that Alexandria have secured their first victory against the Saviors, Gimple says that events in the upcoming season will get “intense and emotional” in a “different way”.

“I’d say Rick and the group are coming off a win and even with the loss of Sasha, she was such a huge part of that win,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.

“She wasn’t a victim, she was a team captain in some ways – and that’s a good way for them to start the season and a good place for them to be.”

He added: “This isn’t a time of them wringing their hands; it’s a time to descend into righteous battle, which is a serious thing.

“They’re not glib about it but there is something extremely freeing to these people to be involved in such a noble cause.”

The showrunner continued to describe how the finale’s outcome has set season eight up for a much faster pace.

He said: “The things that they are getting into demand a more kinetic narrative. The pace is accelerated by virtue of the things that they’re up to.

“Though I don’t want to say exactly, anybody who watches the show can extrapolate that they’re now into public conflict with the Saviors.

“The battle lines are drawn. There isn’t quite as much time to dig into anything but prosecuting the war.”

Gimple previously teased the new season would “melt people’s minds and break their televisions.

“I say, ‘It’s gonna be bigger, it’s gonna be more intense.’ I always mean that, but this year it’s the same thing. More intense.”

The Walking Dead will return October 2017 on FOX. 

REVIEW: The Walking Dead S7 E15 ‘Something They Need’ is a rushed disappointment

The Walking Dead is hurtling towards a violent confrontation with alarming pace. The only problem now is it’s doing it with too much pace. One episode before the eagerly-awaited series finale, The Walking Dead rushes, skips and avoids unnecessary storylines in its eagerness to get to the finish line. The result is a disjointed and disappointing experience.

Last episode, we saw Sasha lock co-conspirator Rosita out of the Sanctuary and head to kill Negan with all guns blazing. This episode we saw… none of it. We’re left to guess what happened to Sasha after we learn in the opening moments she is captured by the Saviours. Did she go down with a fight? Did she take anyone out before she was captured? How close did she get to Negan? All of these questions remain unanswered, which is annoying, because they would do a great deal to answer questions of Sasha’s mental fortitude at this trying time. Negan makes Sasha an offer to join the Saviours, and Sasha later manipulates Eugene into giving her a weapon, but none of this is interesting if we’ve been denied the opportunity to see exactly where Sasha’s head is. Instead, this storyline feels rushed and wasted – and that is the opposite of the way we want a prominent character like Sasha to meet her (probable) end.

Elsewhere, without any sort of rhyme or reason, Rick and the Alexandrians rush to Oceanside to seize their weapons. There seems to be no thought and minimal planning involved, and indeed including the whole Oceanside community feels like an oversight. Suddenly, the incredibly protected and capable Oceanside community are reduced to screaming, defenceless women as the Alexandrians plant bombs to herd them to a location where they can be surrounded. Nobody fights back. It all seems awfully convenient and, honestly, bad writing. Rick presents them a choice that is not a choice: it’s my way or the highway. The Alexandrians leave with the guns. It’s a terrible shame and a waste of a potentially interesting community.

The third major storyline of the episode involved the Hill Top, and true to form, it was the least interesting part of ‘Something They Need’. Gregory tried briefly to put up a united front with Maggie but planned to stab her in the back. He did neither. He left humiliated in front of members of the Hill Top community after it was revealed this post-apocalypse leader has never so much as dealt with a walker personally. The only way this storyline can be heading is Gregory’s death or incapacitation as leader, and frankly, it can’t come soon enough.

Such was The Walking Dead‘s rush to get into position for its season finale, it skipped past important narrative points far too carelessly. Sasha’s imprisonment and interactions with Negan and Eugene would hold more weight if we knew where she was coming from. Even without the capture scene, Sasha’s feelings on Abraham’s death this season have been largely overlooked in favour of Rosita’s more visible struggle. Alexandria seizing the weapons from Oceanside was embarrassingly easy. Instead, more time was devoted to presenting Gregory as a feeble, spineless, self-interested leader – which is something we have been clear about for a very long time.

All of these mistakes might be forgiven if the season finale is as good as what has been promised, but for now we are disappointed about the ignored opportunities. The Walking Dead creates so many interesting characters and scenarios that it is a shame to shrug them off in favour of rushing towards a finish line. This is a matter of too much, too fast – and oddly reminiscent of last year’s critique over poor pacing.

REVIEW: The Walking Dead S7 E14 ‘The Other Side’ builds the tension

The Walking Dead is building the tension for an action-packed finale, and in ‘The Other Side’, we saw some of the chess places reach their final position.

‘The Other Side’ was a mixed bag as an episode. What it lacked in action and tension – something The Walking Dead‘s typical formula rarely fails to deliver on – it made up for in character backstories and stunning emotional interactions between characters. It also made some questionable directorial decisions, namely the use of uninspiring music to convey far too little over far too long a time.

We’ll start with where the episode shone, and that was in its character interactions. From Maggie and Jesus’s discussion of home, to Daryl to Maggie’s long-overdue conversation, to Sasha and Rosita’s acceptance of one another – this episode was filled with glorious interactions where usually we would only see one.

Norman Reedus was as excellent as he was in the scene with Melissa McBride a few episodes ago. We felt the discomfort between Daryl and Maggie and we felt the air clear. Quite literally in fact, as Daryl spent the episode shrouded in darkness until the confession that he felt responsible for Glenn’s death. Lauren Cohan was similarly excellent in her broken yet understanding response.

Christian Serratos and Sonequa Martin-Green also played a blinder as Rosita and Sasha built bridges and discussed their pasts, their relationships with Abraham and what happened after. These two women have been through a lot together, good and bad. The moment where they cried and embraced felt like the one journey reaching an end – and perhaps it has.

Perhaps ‘The Other Side’ will be remembered favourably for these interactions – they were rather good. However, there was nothing in the episode to remember in terms of action and excitement. There’s a brief and moderately tense moment where Daryl and Maggie almost get caught at the Hill Top, and then a brief walker diversion plan by Rosita and Sasha – but that’s it. It’s not up to The Walking Dead‘s usual standards at being interesting and original. The effort to build tension there is so little they may not have bothered with the scenes at all.

Despite this lack of excitement, ‘The Other Side’ did leave our heroes in an interesting place. Sasha is inside the Sanctuary – possibly heading to her death. Rosita has been found by someone with a crossbow, and it’s deliberately ambiguous as to whether it’s friend or foe. Elsewhere, the Hill Top are actively training recruits to fight and be ready for the oncoming attack. It’s all starting to happen, and The Walking Dead is bringing all the pieces together at the right time for one seriously good finale. We hope.

REVIEW: The Walking Dead S7 E13 ‘Bury Me Here’ breaks Morgan and fans’ hearts

The Walking Dead season seven episode thirteen ‘Bury Me Here’ returned to the Kingdom for a spectacular hour of tense, gripping television on Monday night.

Something had to give in the Kingdom. The Kingdom’s leader, King Ezekiel, was determined to avoid conflict with the Saviours when the subject was last broached in the midseason premiere. His aide Morgan refused to accept the reality of the Saviours and advise a future which would see many die. Elsewhere, Carol isolated herself from the world in an attempt to escape and deny the pain of all that has happened. Three major characters needed a wake-up call – and boy, did they get one.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came in the form of a plan by Richard to sacrifice himself in order to convince Ezekiel of the need for action. As any fan who has watched the Saviours’ brutal methods of punishment could have warned, this doesn’t go as planned. Instead of Richard receiving the fatal blow, it is Morgan’s son-substitute Benjamin. And then the Walking Dead gets heavy.

Lennie James is brilliant as Morgan deals with the new family he has created for himself being ripped apart in the same way as the last. The facade of the calm Morgan shatters irreparably. He considers suicide, he succeeds in a horribly human revenge, and his grief and pain are so palpable one can almost feel it through the television screen. Although Morgan and Benjamin’s relationship could have been explored in more depth, we still feel the weight of it in James’ acting. Morgan is somewhere far away – back in the internal hell that he struggled with in season three.

Carol’s own journey to choosing to fight parallels Morgans and – in a complete reversal of their characterisation for the last season – decisively less violent. She questions what really happened in Alexandria at the start of ‘Bury Me Here’, but does not receive answers until an inconsolable Morgan tells her the truth near the end of the episode. After this, she packs up her belongings and heads for permanent residence in the Kingdom besides Ezekiel. She will fight from there.

‘Bury Me Here’ is an interesting examination of parallels between characters. We have Ezekiel – reluctant to accept the truth that the Saviours will destroy his kingdom. We have Morgan – reluctant to break away from his religious mantra and disturb the fragile peace he has found within. We have Carol – reluctant to learn the truth of what happened in Alexandria.

Elsewhere we have Morgan and Richard: two men who had everything before the apocalypse. While Morgan buries his head in the sand, Richard is determined not to lose all he holds dear again. There’s a synergy between these two – ultimately very similar men – which ends with one murdering the other. It’s an interesting dynamic of the sort The Walking Dead excels in creating.

‘Bury Me Here’ was an example of The Walking Dead at its best. At heart, it was a human story. It was about loss, denial and grief. It was about what happens when tragedy strikes twice – and how far people will go to avoid and ignore it. Once again, it is truly ironic that a show about a zombie apocalypse can regularly tell some of the most human stories on television.