What’s on the Horizon for The Walking Dead

As is the case every year, San Diego Comic-Con brought a deluge of news to fan the flames of excitement for fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and related genres of pop-culture and entertainment. Being one of the biggest pop-culture juggernauts of the past decade, The Walking Dead once again had a strong presence at the convention. Robert Kirkman and the rest of the people involved with bringing Rick Grimes and company to life in comic, television, video game, and toy form gave us fans a lot to get excited about. Here are, in my opinion, a few of the biggest takeaways from the convention.

The End of the Comic Series?

A few media outlets seem to have taken Robert Kirkman’s statements about his plans for the ongoing comic series out of context. In a panel, Kirkman responded to a question by stating: “I think about two or three years ago, I had a pretty good idea for a definitive ending. I have known that since then and been working towards that, so I know exactly where I’m going and what’s going to happen when I get there.”^[1]

Some (irresponsible) writers have interpreted this to mean that Kirkman is actively planning to end the series, and, of course, speculation began to fester which twisted his words into meaning that the series would be ending relatively soon. But that’s not at all what he said. The series could keep going for many, many more years. That was the whole point of the comic from the beginning, to create a story that continues beyond what we get from zombie movies, to create a story about people that goes on and on. I remember reading how Kirkman had always planned from the start to get to the point where Rick and the survivors became part of a larger network of communities, but even that took around seven or eight years to get to in the story.

Kirkman is also pretty sly about making people think he’s revealed a spoiler when he really hasn’t. As a long-time reader of the comics who has read nearly all of the letter columns since the first issue nearly 14 years ago, Kirkman will say just about anything so you can never really be sure if he’s serious or not. Don’t read too much into his comments. You’ll enjoy the series more that way.

Clementine’s Story is Ending

While the comic series might not be ending any time soon, the video game series by Telltale is definitely scheduled to end in 2018. A teaser trailer featuring interviews by some of the game’s creators was shows at Comic-Con, and it promises to bring Clementine’s story to a close.

This is exciting news for me. I am a huge fan of Season 1 of the Telltale series. It has some of the most memorable characters in all versions of The Walking Dead franchise. Season 2 was very good as well and featured some of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make in a video game. I liked Season 3 as well, but it felt a little disjointed and frustrating at times. It was like it wanted to branch off into a new direction, but the addition of Clementine as a supporting character split the narrative too much at times. It also revealed that the heartbreaking choice I had to make at the end of Season 2 didn’t mean a lot in the long run. In fact, it made me regret the decision I made and had me wanting to go back so I could change it and give a certain character a more meaningful death.

But with that said, I still love the series as a whole. The new game will bring back Clementine as the main character and bring her story to a conclusion. As excited as I am for that, I’m also dreading it a little. Stories don’t tend to end well in The Walking Dead universe.

Season 8 Will Be an All Out War

We all knew it was coming, but the teaser trailer for season 8 of the television series shows the survivors fighting not just for survival, but for their way of life. We can see plenty of action, and people from the show are promising that the season will move along at a rapid pace. One of the complaints I often see about the show is that it can drag at times. I completely disagree with those complaints, but this next season should put them to rest regardless.

The trailer looks great, but I will warn you not to watch it if you want to go into the new season completely spoiler-free. There isn’t an obvious spoiler, but the last few shots of the trailer reveal something that will make you wonder how it fits into the series. Readers of the comic who have gotten past the “All Out War” story arc will know how these shots fit into the continuity of the story, but even if you aren’t familiar with the comic, the images at the end of the trailer will keep you waiting for something specific to happen (or rather, to not happen). If you’re going to watch the trailer, I suggest stopping it before the 4:35 mark.

Toys!

This isn’t really big news, but I thought it would be nice to show some of the Comic-con exclusive action figures released by McFarlane Toys. Limited to only 1000 boxes at a price of $100 dollars per set, the “Shiva Force” line of Walking Dead figures features Rick, Michonne, Ezekiel, and, of course, Shiva, with a tiger-print theme and a G.I.Joe aesthetic. You can also get a fifth “Shiva Force” figure, Jesus, if you subscribe to the Skybound Megabox service. It’s all kind of goofy, but I like it. Personally though, I want some figures based on the superhero variant cover of issue 50.