*Spoilers from season 7*

“Are you wearing your shitting pants?”

Last weekend at Comic-con we were treated to a flood of brand spanking new trailers from some of the up coming films and TV shows. We saw one for the new season of Westworld, which I am very excited about, as well as trailers for the new Thor film; Ragnarok, as well as a trailer for the Justice League movie, but one that had a few people talking was The Walking Dead Season 8 trailer!

But first I want to talk a little about the show and the importance of the last season to help build a better understanding of the trailer and what to expect from season 8, so bare with me.
If you just want the breakdown of the trailer and not all my gobbledygook, then skip ahead to the where you see the line and read from there.


Now I have been a huge Walking Dead fan since 2005. Back then there was only 4 volumes of the comic book (which now is up to 28 and still going), so I am one unfortunately one of these people who will say that the comic is better than the show (which it is, the comic doesn’t pussy out), but that is a discussion for another time.
Since then we have had no shortage of the Walking Dead in the media; Mobile games, table top games, console games (the Telltale’s one is brilliant), one shot comics, novels, audiobooks, encyclopedia, and of course, the television show (as well as the spin off television show).
The TV show has tried to stick close to the comics, but really it only uses it as a guideline, occasionally taking something from it and changing it slightly (for example; it is Abraham who takes the crossbow bolt through the eye instead of Denise), so if I go into anything comic book related in this, take it with a pinch of salt as the show doesn’t often stick to the source material (when it does, that is when I personally love it).

Since the Walking Dead hit the little screen back in 2010. It appeared right at the perfect moment when everyone loved zombies and there was a zombie mode in every game. People loved it. It became a phenomenon with just the first season (of only six episodes) and people wanted more.
Unfortunately it has become such a brand name now that it has kind of lost its magic. Before I would have bought every piece of Walking Dead memorabilia, DVD, accompanying book, but it just became too much. It spread like an epidemic all across the globe and sold out massively. It became such a well-known TV show that you were looked at funny if you didn’t watch it.

That was then, and this is now. Over the course of the 8 years that the show has been on for, it has picked up and dropped. Sometimes you found yourself watching it for the sake of watching it, and other times you were gripped to the edge of your seat. Each season is broken down into two stories now, with the mid-season break acting as a book end for each arc. One half you might find a little slow and boring (see the second half of season 4 when they were aimlessly wandering through the woods for the entirety of it), and other ones have you gagging for more (the second half of season 5 when they first arrived at Alexandria).
It has dropped in fans over the years, which happens when you have a long running show like this. It has no where near the amount of audience that it had three seasons ago.
The most recent season apparently had the lowest amount of viewers it has ever had, which indicated to me that this show cannot continue to go on much long, which is a shame in a way as it can be, at times, a really great show. An example of this is the episode when Glenn, Nicholas and Noah are trapped in the revolving door. That was a fucking brilliant episode.

Even though last season began really strong (with Negan beating Abraham and Glenn to death with Lucille), quite a few people decided that enough was enough. In more ways than one it would seem, as AMC got a lot of complaints from the episode mentioned above, due to the amount of gore there was, and they actually went out of their way to cut out as much as they could of it in later episodes, which was incredibly noticeable and a really bad move. A lot of the viewers who complained was because it was too graphic for their children. Let’s be clear on this, The Walking Dead isn’t a kids show. It features cannibals, people being eaten alive, people getting decapitated with katanas, so why the hell are adults letting their kids watch it? Where were they when Nicholas was being torn apart by the undead and all of his entrails were laying scattered around? Or when Michonne drop a knife into the Governor’s eye before a row of tanks with severed heads? Don’t dumb the show down because stupid people are letting under age people watch it. The show is clearly an 18 certificate, it states it on the DVD box. You wouldn’t dream of someone letting their kid watch and 18 cert film and then complaining that it is too violent for them?


Anyway, this is beyond the point. What I am getting at was that a lot of people stopped watching season 7 of the show, which for me was a bit of a shame. Okay, yeah at times it meandered about and felt a little slow, but it allowed us to get used to the characters and maybe even grow attached to them. This is very important as it makes their deaths have so much more of an impact to us.
In season four when the Governor cut off Hershel’s head, the audience were shocked. In the comics it was Tyreese, but the character had not long been introduced in the show (as they mixed it up a bit) and so having him get decapitated wouldn’t have had the same effect. Smashing Abraham’s head in with a baseball bat was a bit sad, the character had been in it for quite a few seasons, but when Negan smacked down on Glenn’s head and we saw him turn to Maggie with a caved in head and his eye bulging out, we were genuinely shocked and saddened. It was perfectly executed (the same way as it was in the comics). Not only does it make the audience feel something, which is the entire point of this, but it also makes the main antagonist stand out.
Reading up about how to DM in Dungeons and Dragons, if you want a villain to stand out, then you have them do something to one of the players or the NPCs that the characters love, so it makes more of an impact on them.
The other side of it is having characters like Axel (who I doubt half of you even remember. He was the convict with the tash that they found in the prison who was genuinely diamond) and when he was shot by the Governor, nobody cared as we hadn’t got a chance to get to know him. In the comics we have spent time with this character and so when he dies in a similar fashion, we found ourselves shocked and maybe even a little upset. No one likes it when a beloved character dies, which was probably why there were so many complaints in after Glenn’s death.
Personally I love it, not because I am some strange sadist, but because of the effect that it has on the audience. It is something that I have tried to recreate in my writing.

So, yes, season 7 was slow, but it allowed us time to get to know the characters. We were introduced to Jesus and the Hilltop (which looks exactly the same as the comics), as well as Ezekiel and the Kingdom, not to forget Shiva the tiger! We saw Negan and the Saviours and how shit got done back at Sanctuary. The show took a step back from the unnecessary “quick lets throw a zombie scene in because it is a show about zombies” (note: it is actually NOT a show about zombies. It is a series about living and trying to survive in this world, and that means dealing with other survivors more than it means with dealing with the dead), and this season focused more on building up the characters to hopefully have them die dramatically next time.
Granted most of the time the Walking Dead is two characters have a big emotional chat for most of the episode before moving onto the next two people, but the point is that the groundwork is done!

So with the foundations laid before us Season 8 has a straight run to be as action packed as it likes. It doesn’t need to bother introducing more people at the Hilltop, or delving deeper into how Negan holds the power over his people. This season can be all out war! That is the name of the arc in the comic books which the show has caught up to. It is the part where the Hilltop, the Kingdom and Alexandria join forces and try to take on Negan, and seeing how season 7 ended, it is clear that this is what we will see next season. So I am quite excited to see if they can do it right.

The war of the Prison was a bit disappointing for me as they threw it onto the end of Season 3. In the comics we had been given multiple books building this up, so it had much more of an impact to us when it finally happened (as per the point I made earlier), where as in the show, they added it onto the end of the same season that the characters who featured in it were introduced. The whole thing felt rushed.
Hopefully this time around they do it right. Although funnily enough the comic book arc of All Out War isn’t overly great, and the ending is a little naff, so I am hoping that they change it.

As I mentioned before, I can see that this show is coming to an end. The number of viewers have dwindled and, if they are still following the comics, there is a dramatic change a-coming. This seems to me like the perfect time to actually finish the show. I know that might come as a bit of a shock to some of you die-hard Walking Dead fans, but it should really quit while it is ahead, and having an action packed season focusing on the warring communities, full of deaths of beloved characters, is the perfect way to do it! It is a great note to end on, if the war goes Rick’s way of course, or it will be a great sour note to end on if it goes Negan’s.

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So the trailer for season 8 has dropped and it looks really good. We had a little taste of the war to come in the season finale earlier this year, and it looks like shit is about to kick off. As I have said before, the groundwork has been laid and so the writers are free to just jump in with the action and start killing off the character left, right and centre! I think that due to the drop of viewers and the everything that happened last season, the gloves can come off, so I expect a few characters to finally cop it, maybe even some characters who the audience will riot for if they do meet their demise (I’m looking at you Daryl).

The first line in the trailer pretty much hints to what I am saying. We find ourselves in a dark room with Negan and a worried looking Gabriel as Negan asks him “are you wearing your shitting pants? Because you are going to be doing a-whole lot of shitting”. When Negan says this, he is pretty much looking at the us; the audience, so it is clear that WE are in for a hell of a ride.

After this we see a lot of the characters we have grown to love, or hate, or just get used to, over the course of the show. They look as if they are preparing to do battle. Except for Tara who is just dicking about wearing stupid glasses and eating candy, dressing in that bastard hoodie she always wears. I can personally see her dying this year. The “comedy” that she brings to the show can fucking do one.

An important shot during this is the one of Dwight as he unrolls a piece of paper with the word “Tomorrow” written on it. If you remember, Dwight is now a spy against Negan for the others, in hopes that they can finally end Negan’s tyranny, so that maybe he can get his missus back (who is one of Negan’s wives. Personally that ship would have sailed for me. But really I would be doing exactly what Eugene is doing and going along with it to better myself and have an easy life).


Rick then does his Rick thing (or Thang) and starts spouting a speech about how their worlds have become bigger and how they must unite.
During this we see the various groups preparing for war. A section looks as if Daryl is placing explosives to maybe lure a huge mob of walkers to Sanctuary, with Carol and Tara keeping watch from a highway bridge above. Perhaps they are going to bring the horde to Negan’s door, which is a tactic that I have never really understood for “Good” characters to do. As being eaten alive by zombies is not a good way of getting rid of someone. A similar thing happened on Fear The Walking Dead and I really didn’t buy it then.

We get a shot of Ezekiel and Jerry covered in blood as Jerry thanks Ezekiel for being such a cool dude. Personally I think Jerry is the cool dude out of the two. He carries a wicked battle axe (which we see later on in the trailer) as well as actually bringing a little light heartedness to the show that isn’t silly awkward American comedy. The scene does feel like a ‘Last Stand’ so I fear for what might become of them, especially Jerry since he is not an overly big character.

We then see our main commanders; Maggie – Hilltop, Ezekiel – Kingdom, Rick – Alexandria, doing what commanders do and commanding their people, as Rick says that no matter what happens, they have already won, which does feel a little optimistic considering.

At one point Jesus and Morgan are battling it out in the woods, Morgan looking a little bloody and over the edge, but this can easily be a red herring and nothing more than a little bit of training.

The trailer then kicks into the action as we see Rick Fighting it out with “someone”, Ezekiel and his men shooting the shit out of something, we see the Scavengers; who serve as another group on Negan’s side, complete with their leader and her terrible haircut and unnecessary tribal voice (the apocalypse only happened a year ago, surely she shouldn’t be speaking like that?).

We see Simon; Negan’s number 2, who I am eager to see more, not only because he was Trevor in GTA5 or because he is not in the comics, but because I can see him finally getting his comeuppance this season.

We see Maggie giving a speech to her people stating that the world is theirs along side more soldiers preparing for battle, before we see Shiva roaring in the middle of what looks like a zombie horde, which, if true, is something straight out of the comic books; always a plus in my eyes.


Ezekiel’s like “Trust the King” causes the trailer to then become action packed. The music changes (to some Irish rock jig) and get a taster of the carnage we can expect. We see Jerry smash his mighty battle axe into a zombie’s skull, Aaron calling out orders in the midst of a battle taking place outside Sanctuary as people fire over barricaded cars. We get shots of Carl fighting off a walker, Rick brawling it with some unknown Saviour (which looks like it could be taking place inside Sanctuary), as we see Morgan firing a silence pistol after announcing to us “I don’t die”, which is never a clever thing to say.

The massacre continues as it cuts between shots of people in battle, car chases, and of course the undead themselves, so it looks like they are still playing a hefty role in this.

Then something strange happens. Once the trailer “ends” we get a glimpse of a white hazy room. We see the top of a walking cane resting beside the wall just before we get a shot of an older looking Rick, with grey hair and a large grey beard, lying in a bed.
Fans of the comic might speculate that this is following on from the All Out War arc and that it is what happens after, which I am inclined to believe myself, but occasionally the online theories do make me wonder.
It would seem a little too obvious for them to do that, especially knowing that comic fans will always be one step ahead. If they do decide to do that story, then I think that would be a big mistake. Really I think they need to end the show after this season (as explained earlier), but ending it on this particular note is not a bad call, it is only a bad call if they decide to carry on the story from this point.
This might all sound a little cryptic but I am trying my best to avoid giving anything way.

A interesting theory is that it is Rick waking up from the hospital bed from the beginning. Now this would suck if it turned out all 8 season was nothing but a dream, but if this scene was a dream itself (what with the angelic effect) and we get a look at Lori and Carl in a what-if moment, then that can be quite a powerful scene if done correctly.
I hope it is something a little different than what we are expecting, because at the moment I am being a bit of a smart-arse about it having read the comics and know what story arc is coming next.

It is worth noting that Eugene is not in a single scene of this trailer, so we are left to wonder what might have happened, or what is happening, to this turncoat.

Anyway, we will have to wait until the 23rd of October to find out what is going to happen, but I am sure that this season won’t disappoint.

You can check out the trailer for yourself here.

 

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