Marching To War

The Walking Dead prepares for battle. Red Alert reports from the front lines

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It’s a time long in coming for The Walking Dead. A time of war.

Having suffered enough loss at the hands of Negan and his Saviors, the show’s colonies of survivors – Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom – are finally uniting against their common enemy. No matter the cost.

“Propulsive” is how executive producer, director and zombie effects maestro Greg Nicotero describes the show’s eighth season. “I think we spent a lot of last season setting the stage for the showdown between the Alexandrians, the Kingdom, Hilltop, and the Saviors. So knowing where we left the finale last year, with all of our groups banding together, it’s really safe to say that this season is really unlike any other season that we’ve done.

“Maggie’s clearly the leader of the Hilltop,” explains Nicotero. “Ezekiel’s the leader of the Kingdom. And Rick is the leader of Alexandria. The last show of the season, where they’re all standing together and you hear Maggie talking about the future while she’s holding Glenn’s watch, it’s pretty clear to me that the way for society to move forward is for these people to band together, to go up against the tyrannical rule of Negan. So in terms of where they are at the beginning of this season it’s very similar to where they were at the end of last season. They realise that they have to fight. They have to fight to preserve their way of life. Or they’re gonna die.”