'The Walking Dead' Season 9 Spoilers: Major Changes Up Ahead
The all-out battle between Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) groups is finally over, which means that things will change when "The Walking Dead" returns to AMC for season 9.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, outgoing showrunner Scott M. Gimple opened up about their decision to keep the heartless leader of Saviors alive, just like what was written in the comic books created by Robert Kirkman.
Gimple revealed that he was shocked when he read about it in the books since it was an unexpected twist, but it left a major impact on him.
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"It was the right thing for the character and the right thing for the world. For what Rick wants, and what Carl (Chandler Riggs) wanted for him? It really was the only way forward," the outgoing showrunner also said.
Gimple also mentioned that the ending of season 8 provided a proper closure for the last 100 episodes of the series. This means that the show will undergo a major change as it moves forward.
According to the former showrunner, who will relegate his role to Angela Kang so that he can start supervising "The Walking Dead" franchise including its spinoff "Fear The Walking Dead," the characters of the series will start to deal with things that they have never dealt with before. They will also reportedly have a different way of interacting with each other compared to the past. This could mean that the next installment of the show will have a major evolution. "It just takes this quantum leap forward in the stories we're telling," he also said.
But when asked by Vulture about how the show will change specifically in season 9, the outgoing showrunner said that he does not want to go into details. But he did mention that there are a lot of things that will change next season, even if there is still some unfinished business left from the current season. "I'm just very excited to break some new ground, to see them tackle very, very different issues, problems, and conflicts than we've seen in the last eight years. It is just going to be a very, very different show," he also stated.
Meanwhile, fans were worried that Rick turned some of his old friends into his new enemies when Maggie (Lauren Cohen) became very vocal about her displeasure when he decided to keep Negan alive. It also seemed like Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Jesus (Tom Payne) were on her side.
But Reedus reassured fans that he still got Rick's back in a post on Twitter, saying that his character has no plans of turning on Rick.
Other speculations also claimed that the next big threat the Rick and his group will have to face when the TV series returns will be a new group called the Whisperers, based on the plot from the comic series.
A separate report from The Hollywood Reporter stated that eagle-eyed fans were linking a brief moment in the season 8 finale where Rick and his allies were seen standing in the center of an open field that was marked by a big fence with a large congregation of walkers seen in the horizon.
Those who were reading the comic books know that the Whisperers have a huge number of walkers under their control, which means that they could be the next big threat for the series.
AMC is expected to air the premiere episode of "The Walking Dead" season 9 later this year.
