The Walking Dead Showrunners Drops Oceanside Return Intel

The Walking Dead is primed to bring the Oceanside community back into the mix for the upcoming tenth season (including Cyndie and actress Sydney Park), which showrunner Angela Kang is very much looking forward to. How the community will factor into the upcoming war against the Whisperers remains to be seen but some new insight offers up clues regarding what to expect.

"It's been really fun having Oceanside back in the fold this season," Kang told EW. "We've sort of been away from them for a minute, but they are one of our communities and they're an active partner in everything that's going on. Everybody's made a protection pact, and Oceanside's part of that." The community was first introduced during the war against Negan and has not appeared since Episode 9x03 offer Cyndie and others from the community closure as the last of the Saviors who had harmed them previously had been killed off.

As it turns out, the return of Oceanside is built on the intentions of a character who didn't make it out of Season 9. "In Season 9, one of the last plans that Tara had before her life was unfortunately cut short by the Whisperers is she made a deal with Oceanside saying, 'Hey, maybe we should train each other,'" Kang said. "Rachel offered up the beach, and so they are people who have made good on that pact. That's part of Tara's legacy coming into the new season."

The series moves its production from the commonly used Senoia, Georgia area for Jekyll Island shoots when bringing Oceanside to life. "We had a great time filming at Jekyll Island in Georgia," the showrunner notes. "It was scorching heat, but it's such a beautiful, unique landscape and I think it gives this season this really interesting visual look and some scope that is just really special. Everybody really enjoyed the time that we spent there."

Of course, the Oceanside community did not play too heavy of a role in the comics after the war with Negan. One major factor was Michonne's self-exiling from Alexandria to join the community. She eventually went back on that as Rick and company weren't the same without her. Whether or not such a story will be a factor is unknown but Kang is teasing some sort of comic book adaptation in the coming episodes. "In the comic book, Robert Kirkman shows Oceanside and the way that ships are coming in and out of what's their dock now, and so that's some of the stuff that we're playing with this season as well," Kang said.

The Walking Dead returns for Season 10 on Sunday, October 6th on AMC.