'The Walking Dead' Scattering Characters Is A Set Up For Season 9
Scattering characters across the landscape of The Walking Dead was a move which showrunner Scott [...]
Scattering characters across the landscape of The Walking Dead was a move which showrunner Scott Gimple claims sets the stage for the series beyond Season 8.
It's never too soon to start thinking ahead in the world of television in movies. With the highly anticipated All Out War story on the horizon for The Walking Dead, fans aren't the only ones looking beyond the battlefield for what's next on the AMC series. Gimple has a long term plan which he has clearly been developing since spreading the Alexandrian survivors out across different locations and episodes in the show's seventh season.
"You know it's funny, [writer/producer] Angela Kang, who's my number two on the show, who's been here just as long as me, we were talking before season seven, and we knew things were very much... people were about as apart as they've ever been on the show, and we had all these concentrated episodes, and I was like, 'Man, I miss doing it all together,'" Gimple said. "And she reminded me, as I need to be reminded a lot of times, that we had had a whole conversation that a great deal of the reason we were doing that, the thing that was driving that, was that we knew this season everybody would be more mixed up, and that there would be less of that. So we were getting as much as possible."
The stretching of storytelling and scattering of characters through the most recent season was play for the long run which expands beyond the imminent Season 8.
"We knew we were going there, and even there's aspects of this season that I won't tell you, but we're emphasizing because next season, especially the first half of next season, is going to be very, very different," Gimple said. When asked more specifically if Gimple was referencing Season 9, the showrunner confirmed. "Yes," Gimple said. "You do your long range planning, and then you get just in the field of battle on that certain thing you're doing. You think you're doing it for one reason, you realize oh, you're saving something for that. Or you're going to be approaching it in a different way."
The Walking Dead's sibling series Fear the Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9 pm ET on AMC. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season on October 22, 2017. The Season 8 premiere will mark 100 episodes overall for the popular AMC series. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.
