The Walking Dead's upcoming final season is set to begin with an episode that's going to take fans into new territory, according to former showrunner and executive producer Scott Gimple.
In an appearance on the official Twitch channel TWDUniverse, Gimple suggested that the two-hour season premiere of Season 11 will do something "we have never seen" on the show before. "The first episode is crazy," teased Gimple. "I cannot wait for people to see it. It's big. It's very, very big. I don't want to say too much, but it's stuff we have never seen on the show. When [Angela Kang], the writer, started talking about it, I immediately got excited."
The premiere, which airs August 22 on AMC, is written by current showrunner Angela Kang and producer and writer Jim Barnes, and directed by Kevin Dowling. The episode will kick off the final season of the series, which will conclude following Season 11. It will follow the characters in the aftermath of their war with the Whisperers, and will set up the introduction of the Commonwealth, the faction featured in the comic's final arc.
"It's something we have not yet seen on the show," Gimple continues. "After the amount of episodes we've done, that's a pretty cool thing." The show has completed a total of 153 episodes to date, following the group of survivors as they journey from settlement to settlement and fight off factions that have sought to interfere with their methods of survival. With Season 11 promising to focus on larger stories in its 24-episode span as opposed to Season 10's smaller, more personal arcs, the final season's story is one that promises to start with a bang.
Season 11 of The Walking Dead is expected to air in three eight-episode blocks -- given Gimple's previous reveal that the final season will begin with "eight action-packed episodes that will feature the massive scope and scale fans have come to expect from The Walking Dead Universe." The series' final season, which is promised by showrunner Angela Kang to be brutal and extra dark, is expected to conclude sometime in 2022, though the conclusion of The Walking Dead will not mean the end for fans' time in the universe.
The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton and Cooper Andrews. Season 11 premieres Aug. 22 on AMC.
Source: TWDUniverse (via comicbook.com)