The Internet Reacts To ‘The Walking Dead' Episode 100

Spoilers for The Walking Dead 8x01.The Walking Dead is back. The hit AMC series returned tonight [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Spoilers for The Walking Dead 8x01.

The Walking Dead is back. The hit AMC series returned tonight with its season 8 premiere — the series' landmark 100th episode — and fans on Twitter and Facebook are abuzz about what the newest season already brings to the table.

"Mercy" included loads of easter eggs and callbacks from past episodes, but there was plenty of new introduced to the lore: Rick (Andrew Lincoln) lead the Alexandria, Hilltop and Kingdom communities in a surprise attack on the Sanctuary, home to Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors, Carl (Chandler Riggs) showed off his compassionate side when he happened across a stranger (Avi Nash), and most of all, audiences saw a glimpse into a possible future with "Old Man Rick," an aged-up Judith and a decidedly different looking Alexandria.

Old Man Rick / Future Alexandria

Less than ten minutes into the season opener, fans caught their first glimpse at what has been dubbed "Old Man Rick" — a more distinguished, grizzled Rick Grimes. An apparent flash forward — or at least the vision of a possible future imagined by Rick — the "future" scenes saw Rick, Carl, Michonne (Danai Gurira) and a much older Judith as a happy family. Even more surprisingly, Rick and Judith step outside, revealing a much different looking Alexandria.

So, fans are asking, what the hell was that all about?

The shot of Rick laid in bed and waking up, the camera on his face, is an obvious call back to the 2010 pilot when Rick first woke from his coma — just one of the many references to the series' past 99 episodes in episode 100.

The cast and crew have shot down the theory that Old Man Rick waking up means the entire series up to this point was all a dream: showrunner Scott M. Gimple debunked the theory on last month's Walking Dead preview special, saying, "He's not waking up from the coma. No coma. It's not a coma."

Leading man Andrew Lincoln admitted he found the idea of an older Rick interesting, noting the sequence is "in the future" and not Rick awaking from his coma. "It's an older Rick," Lincoln teased. "So by virtue of the fact that you see, that means that it's in the future."

Gimple and executive producer Greg Nicotero stated Rick's new look wouldn't be fully explained by the end of the season 8 opener, but promised audiences will come to understand "about halfway through the season."

"We won't quite know what it's about, and then we'll get an answer to that about halfway through," Gimple said. "It's something that's going to play out."

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Carl's New Character Encounter

The episode saw Carl encounter a mysterious traveler — learn more about him here — and most fans are siding with Rick, who fired a warning shot to scare the stranger off: this guy's not part of Team Family, and he shouldn't be trusted.

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Negan And Gabriel Sitting In A Tree, S-H-I-T-T-I-N-G

Part of the group's attack on the Sanctuary including leading a massive horde of Walkers towards the compound, and the plan went off without a hitch — except Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) was accidentally left behind after risking his own life to save the Gregory (Xander Berkeley), the treacherous figurehead of the Hilltop colony.

The padre's situation was made worse when Negan stepped out of the shadows, and the pair were revealed to be trapped by the swarm of flesh-hungry Walkers clawing at the trailer.

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Rick’s Polaroid

Alexandria, the Hilltop and the Kingdom came together, bringing the war to Negan and launching a guns ablazin' fire fight on the Sanctuary. On the tail end of the attack, with Negan in retreat, Rick took out a Polaroid camera and snapped a picture — creating yet another question for fans.


Keep tuning into The Walking Dead Sundays at 9/8c on AMC to have all these questions answered.

The Walking DeadSunday at 9PM EST on AMC

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