Season Eight Of 'The Walking Dead' May Begin Without Negan, Michonne

Entering its eighth season, The Walking Dead is slightly hobbled, but still the highest rated series on cable (and it’s not even close). However, the series may have to take on the competition this fall with one hand tied behind its back, figuratively speaking.

Last week, we learned that Christian Serratos — who plays Rosita on The Walking Dead — had been pregnant for much of the seventh season, and gave birth right around the time the eighth season begins filming. We put two and two together and surmised that the gunshot would she suffered in the seventh season finale was not arbitrary. We can reasonably conclude that Rosita will be laid up in the medical unit for the first few episodes of the season, at least, as Serratos takes some time off, as Alanna Masterson did at the beginning of the seventh season.

Rosita was not the only character laid up the medical ward at the end of that episode, however. Michonne — played by Danai Gurira — was also badly beaten in the season finale, and left in worse shape than even Rosita.

There may have been a scheduling reason for that, as well. Danai Gurira plays Okoye in Marvel’s Black Panther, although shooting ended on that in the beginning of April while production on The Walking Dead didn’t begin until the end of April. Nevertheless, Gurira’s character will also reappear in Avengers: Infinity War, which is still currently shooting. However, we don’t know how much screen time Okoye will have in the Marvel film. There’s more than a dozen characters to contend with, so aside from the major players, most of the characters aren’t expected to spend a ton of time shooting. Moreover, shooting also took place this month in Atlanta, so if she is in those scenes, she’s very close to the production of The Walking Dead.

In other words, while Michonne may miss some time, it’s likely to be minimal, and considering the fact that The Walking Dead often goes two or three weeks without featuring a particular character (or six or seven weeks in the case Aaron), her absence may not even be noticed on the series.

One absence that most certainly will be noticed is that of the series’ big bad, Negan. This is based merely on set reporting from Digital Spy, but reportedly Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who plays Negan) hasn’t been seen on set since the opening episode of the season (they are now shooting the fifth).

Without spoiling anything, this could just be a function of his storyline as the war between Rick and Negan begins. However, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also starring in a Dwayne Johnson movie called Rampage, which began filming around the same time that the eighth season of The Walking Dead began filming. It’s also being shot in Atlanta, however, so it shouldn’t take Dean Morgan too far away from The Walking Dead set. Depending on the size of his role in the film, he may not miss a noticeable number of episodes, either, especially on a series with the flexibility to focus two or three episodes in a row on alternating locations and characters.

Regardless of how much time Michonne, Negan, and Rosita miss, expect an exciting eighth season in October, as Rick and Negan finally to go war.