The season eight premiere of The Walking Dead doubles as the show’s 100th episode. That’s an impressive achievement for any series (it’s topped network-mate Mad Men by eight episodes), but especially one that’s as violent and dark as, well, did you see last season’s premiere? There are no signs of The Walking Dead ending soon, even if ratings have slipped, and there are things the show’s cast is interested in seeing in the next 100 episodes.
Andrew Lincoln told Entertainment Weekly he would like Norman Reedus to “give me his motorcycle, crossbow, and jacket,” and for Carl to “take over the reins and so I can kick back and play computer games for a couple of seasons with Eugene,” while Lauren Cohan wants Maggie to “become a mermaid.” Most of the responses are obvious goofs — Danai Gurira: “Michonne should open a beauty parlor, but it should also be like a golfing resort, and it’s where she brings the enemies” — but Melissa McBride gave a serious answer about an important question Walking Dead fans have been asking for years.
“I would love to have a sit-down conversation with one of the characters about how utterly bizarre our life has become,” she said. “The other thing is I would like to hear: What is this virus? What’s going on with that? What is this thing? Is there any end in sight? Is anybody looking into that somewhere in the world? How far has this gone?” All the way to the top, Carol.
Creator Robert Kirkman has previously said that he knows what caused the zombie outbreak, “but it’s dumb. I’ll never tell anyone.” Before The Walking Dead prequel Fear the Walking Dead premiered, he also wrote, “I still maintain that’s not an important aspect of the story. I think watching Fear the Walking Dead, you’ll get a bigger picture of the world, but as far as digging down to actually find the smoking gun and realizing what that causes, it’s really just unimportant to the overall story. If we were to do a companion to The Walking Dead and it was about a bunch of scientists that were working to find the cure and finding out the origins, that would bore me to tears.”
Well, there goes Noah Emmerich’s post-The Americans plan. Poor Edwin Jenner, he died for nothing.
The Walking Dead returns on October 22.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
