The Walking Dead San Diego Comic Con Panel Recap

On Friday, The Walking Dead took over a packed Hall H at San Diego Comic Con. The cast and crew took the stage in front of 6,500 dedicated fans to recap the events of season six and tease some of the things to come when the show returns for its seventh season in October.

We'll be updating this article live from The Walking Dead's panel, so refresh your browser periodically for updates!

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Hardwick announces that The Walking Dead will premiere October 23 for eight new episodes.

Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Greg Nicotero take the stage. They will first talk about the upcoming season and whther it's worth the wait. Kirkman promises it is and calls it a "fantastic premiere to a fantastic season."

Gimple teases what we'll see in the trailer today, emphasizing a new place we'll see: The Kingdom. "Our characters will be meeting both friend and foe," Hurd teases, adding, "There might be some interesting non human characters" with a meow.

Nicotero shows off looks at some of the distinct walkers we'll be seeing in season 7. He's particularly excited about "Hitchcock" walker whose eyes got pecked out by birds. Hurd points out that the VFX team has been nominated for Emmy's, once again.

The trailer is introduced. It has Ezekiel, Shiva, the Sanctuary, and the Kingdom in it.

The cast takes the stage, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan in character reciting lines as Negan. He describes how extremely his life has changed since debuting as Negan. "The fans have been nothing but awesome," he says.

They announce that Khary Payton will play King Ezekiel.

Andrew Lincoln jokes about how his mother reminds him that he'll have to get back to the space we saw him in in the season six finale. "It's a really shitty start to the season but hang in there because we're heading to one of the greatest showdowns we've had on the show since Terminus," Lincoln promises.

"For me as a fan and a participant, it's probably one of the coolest things ever," says Steven Yeun before the attention turns to Lauren Cohan. "The show gives us this opportunity to go to such visceral places and that episode for all of us was one of the most physically and emotionally demanding things," she says.

Chandler Riggs discusses wearing the bandage over his eye. He prefers the prosthetic because "it looks really cool" and is "a lot more chill and easy." He was surprised by how much vision he lost.

Danai Gurira says that Michonne is starting to invest in Carl. She wants to know what it's like to be a mother, which we saw in earlier episodes, and Carl's acceptance of Michonne is what lead to Rick and Michonne's connection. Back in season three, in a jail cell scene, she first thought Michonne could look at Rick romantically.

Norman Reedus is asked about Rick and Daryl's bromance. It started in Japan. Andrew Lincoln wanted to know how to say, "Thank you for having me in your country," and Reedus made him say, "Where's the toilet?" instead. He jokes about putting chickens in his trailer to which Lincoln retaliated by putting a funny license plate on Reedus' car and a glitter bomb in his trailer. Recently though, Reedus filled Lincoln's air conditioners with glitter. It still effects Lincoln when he turns on the AC, days later.

McDermitt discusses being at his first San Diego Comic Con. He's seen lots of Eugene cosplayers. Cudlitz talks next. He discusses the love triangle between himself, Rosita and Sasha. He cites the comics and how Rosita used her looks to get her way. He says Abraham still loves Rosita and would do anything for her still. Sonequa Martin-Green reflects on the fun they had together while filming the scenes in the car. Christian Serratos joins the conversation and discusses Rosita's arc.

Hardwick asks Ross Marquand to do a Harrison Ford impression and he promptly does. He and Cudlitz start impersonating Rock and Mick.

The screen turns to a message from Lennie James. "I wish I could bethere with you at this year's Comic-Con but as you know, Morgan went on a search for some Carol time," he says. "Get ready, it's going to be a doozie."

Melissa McBride also sent a message. She jokes about wanting to stay away from Negan and the camera turns around to show that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been recording it.

Scott Gimple and Danai Gurira discuss the Rick and Michonne relationship. He didn't know it would have such an impact on people watching. Gurira says that the draw of the show is humanity and what's organic and Gimple stuck to a true narrative.

"We will see a lot of walkers on a fence, on a compound, outside," Gimple says about the Sanctuary, Negan's home, saying we'll see "at least 61 walkers."

A fan asks Hardwick when he will cameo on The Walking Dead. He jokes, saying it'd be funny to have the characters out killing walkers and come home to talk to him about it. He does want to be a walker, though, but doesn't want people to get angry if they see him on the show.

Hardwick wraps the panel by thanking the fans and playing the trailer again.

The Walking Dead returns for its seventh season in October.