Welcome back! It is Day 2 of my Comic-Con@Home experience, so today I headed over to “Hall H” and caught AMC’s The Walking Dead panel. The panel was moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick and included many of the cast and crew along with showrunner Angela Kang, executive producer Greg Nicotero and chief content officer Scott M. Gimple. The panel mostly spotlighted the season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom”, which was unable to air due to the pandemic. Warning: possible spoilers for The Walking Dead season 10 below!
The biggest takeaway from this panel was that the season 10 finale got an official airdate: October 4th, which will be directly followed by the series premiere of the next Walking Dead spinoff, The Walking Dead: World Beyond. While the pandemic has set a number of things back, I was surprised that the air date was so far off based on some comments from the producers about the episode being nearly completed. A unexpected reveal was that season 10 has been extended by six episodes that will air in early 2021. Kang nor Gimple elaborated on what these episodes will entail, but my early prediction is that they could possibly follow Maggie and what she was up to when she was away from the group. Or they could be split across smaller groups and be more contained storylines, as I can’t imagine the whole ensemble getting together during the pandemic with filming restrictions.
A sneak peek at the season 10 finale was shown as well. It followed Father Gabriel at the hospital, seemingly overrun outside by Beta and the Whisperers alongside a herd of zombies. He makes a speech to two frightened children inside the hospital about a promise to survive together against the Whisperers with flashes of all the other groups working towards surviving the Whisperers. Meanwhile, Beta appears to be increasingly losing his mind and “ordering” the walkers to attack.
Outside of the sneak peek at the season 10 finale and the news of extending the season by six episodes, the rest of the panel was largely uneventful to me. Look, I’ve been a Walking Dead fan since its inception and the panel just felt like a special episode of Talking Dead. The panel was split between two groups of cast members along with the show runner and producers, so basically a larger than normal group for an episode of Talking Dead. I’m sure the atmosphere is quite different at Comic-Con in person of course, but they normally premiere the next season trailer and announce the storyline for it, which obviously wasn’t going to happen this year. The panel largely contained what The Walking Dead fans would expect: various cast members talking about their character’s arcs, camaraderie on set between the cast and crew, very small teasers for the future while deflecting direct fan questions, and lots of love for Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan) from the cast and producers.
The most interesting aspect of the panel to me was when the producers were talking about how the show is getting work done during the pandemic. Kang stated that the writing for season 11 is being done remotely for the time being and that the producers and writers are changing their approach to creativity during these unprecedented times. The producers made it clear that they want everyone to feel comfortable with shooting and they won’t return to work unless they can safely do so. Kang also talked passionately about diversity and inclusion both in front of and behind the camera, something she called “a core value” of the The Walking Dead. It is refreshing to see the producers and cast promote diversity so strongly, and it has definitely been reflected on the show over the years.
But for now, there will be a long wait for fans until October, hopefully there will be some updates about the season 10 extension soon! Be sure to check out the panel, along with some other Walking Dead-related panels on Comic-Con Intonational’s YouTube Channel! What do you think of these developments and the future of The Walking Dead? Let me know in the comments and look for my next Comic-Con@Home post tomorrow!
Comments