The Walking Dead Season 8: 6 Reasons To Be Excited (& 3 To Be Worried)

1. No End In Sight

The Season 8 premiere marks the show's 100th episode, which is an impressive achievement for a blood-and-guts zombie series. Of the milestone, Scott Gimple said:

"The first episode [of the eighth season] is I think less about that we reached a hundred episodes, it’s more about setting up our next hundred episodes... It’s about setting up this gigantic, epic tale to come. Not only in Season 8, but beyond."

There's long been a sense, especially since Washington was revealed to be a dead end, that there was no end in sight for The Walking Dead. Entering its eighth season, that's clearly still the case.

Season 8, at least the portion that's All Out War, could be its own thing, a fast-paced, action-packed barnburner of a story, but the talk about another 100 episodes, even if it's not literal, hints at the show continuing to drag itself out.

Not many shows, especially dramas, run to 200 episodes, and it's rare you'll find many drama series at their best going to Season 8 and beyond. Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead's closest comparison (mostly in pop-culture behemoth terms), is ending after two shortened seasons (and took a dip itself in Season 7). TWD, meanwhile, is just going to run and run, and the comments about the 100th episode suggest that little may have changed after all.

Are you excited for Season 8? Worried? What do you hope to see? Share your thoughts down in the comments.