The Walking Dead: 8 Plot Twists Nobody Will See Coming In Season 8
Creeping up on you.
Battle lines were drawn at the end of The Walking Dead's seventh season as Rick Grimes and his militia took the fight to Negan and The Saviors.
It was a fight many dark episodes in the making, but all-out war is coming, and in a show where your favourite character's head can be cracked open with a barbed wire-covered baseball bat at any moment, nobody knows who's going to make it through the next season alive, or what will be left of them.
Potential casualties aren't the only aspect of the zombie show that has fans speculating like crazy. There are so many lingering mysteries in this post-apocalyptic world: What was with that weird flash-forward in the trailer? Who will remain loyal to Rick? And how exactly will the show crossover with Fear the Walking Dead?
The answers to all of these questions are never straightforward and those who think they can turn to the comic books for hints and spoilers are sadly mistaken, since the series has deviated from the source material so much already.
There are bound to be a few twists in store when fire meets gasoline in season 8, and fans better have their sh***ing pants handy if any of these come to pass.
8. Babies Born Post-Apocalypse Are Immune To The Virus
Who knows how much life The Walking Dead has left in it? AMC's top brass have made it clear they want it to run and run, but with viewership declining throughout season 7, is decomposition finally setting in?
There is an outside chance season 8 will offer a hint about the show's endgame, and this fan theory could be the big twist that puts it on course for its final destination.
Reddit users have thrown their weight behind the idea that children conceived after the apocalypse are immune to the zombie virus. This is a bright, optimistic prospect that would suggest the remnants of humanity have a future ahead of them, but to test the theory the show would have to go somewhere darker than ever before.
Subscribers to this school of thought reckon Rick's baby, Judith, will perish at some point, and when her unturned corpse is discovered, the immunity will come to light.
The theory certainly has merit. There have never been any walker babies (or should that be crawlers?) in the show or its companion series Fear The Walking Dead, and there's real-life precedent for nature fighting back against disease.
Fans are expecting to see casualties in season 8's all-out war, but killing off an infant would be shocking even by Walking Dead's standards. The nature of her death giving humanity fresh hope for the future would be little consolation in the short term.
Granted, this is a popular theory, but even its most avid subscribers would be surprised by the timing if it came to pass in the next season, and is there anyone who wouldn't be aghast if AMC actually dared to sacrifice Judith?