It's supposed to be the guessing season as far as "The Walking Dead" is concerned - fans probing on any drop of clues out there and revisiting the theories just to put together a picture of the things to expect for Season 8 of the AMC hit TV series. But TWD executive producer Greg Nicotero has something different in mind - "Rabbit Season."
That was the puzzle created by a recent Instagram post from Nicotero - a short clip actually that showed a zombie walking past a sign hanging on a tree with the words Rabbit Season. Comicbook.com said the IG video seemed recent and part of the TWD production works for the upcoming season so it's not surprising that it generates a lot of questions. The foremost is: What Rabbit Season symbolizes?
Could it be an episode title that soon will be revealed when the next TWD season start broadcasting later in the year? That's the question posed by MovieFone.com but the report quickly added Rabbit Season is not alluding to anything.
And the report by Comicbook.com seems to agree. "The safe bet is that the sign won't make the cut of the series, anyway. It is not aged and depreciated like all settings and props," the report pointed out, projecting at the same time that Nicotero just unleashed a tease that amounts to nothing. There will be more to come in the weeks and months ahead, some will have meaning but the majority will again function as fillers between and the show's season premiere in October.
On a more serious note, Nicotero said nearly everything about The Walking Dead has been planned ahead. The show will soon air its 100th episode but there's no stopping AMC from looking beyond, and seemingly the goal is add another 100 episodes to the upcoming milestone.
"What I'm hoping for the season premiere to be next year is the kick off of the next 100 episodes. The promise of more story and another future. Every eight episodes we try to reinvent ourselves and we're gonna try and do it again," Nicotero said.
For AMC, reinventing The Walking Dead means the show serving more of what the fans expect and demand. As TWD showrunner Scott Gimple had said earlier, it will be fast-paced for Season 8 and there will be tons of action scenes but the emphasis on substance will remain. Of note, Gimple seems pretty confident that TWD will not run out of storyline to explore for reinvention. He once quipped that The Walking Dead can run for 20 years.
Meanwhile, TWD fans still traumatized by the brutal execution of Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) can't help but wonder if they'll be shocked again by another heartbreaking death or deaths this coming Season 8. The answer seems affirmative as Christian Post claimed in a report there will be a major TWD character exit before the end of the year. The clue: he or she has managed to stay alive since Season 1 and there are five of them, the report added.
Of the five, it's Michonne (Danai Gurira) who likely will die next, according to the report, but the specific hows and whys remain unknown.
The Walking Dead Season 8 will start running on AMC October this year.
