There are just three episodes left of the current season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, and things are about to get serious. At the opening night of PaleyFest, the cast and creatives of the horror drama television show shed some insight about what to expect from the final episodes of season 7 and what’s to come in season 8.
The panel at the Dolby Theater included Robert Kirkman, who wrote the original comic book series, and executive producers Scott M. Gimple, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert. Also in attendance were several cast members: Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Lauren Cohan, Sonequa Martin-Green, Alanna Masterson, Christian Serratos, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Austin Amelio and Tom Payne.
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The cast and creative team were careful not to divulge any big spoilers, but they managed to tease what’s in store for the series. According to Gimple, there will be “a lot of big events” in the final episodes, and things will become “quantum intense,” Entertainment Weekly reports.
“It is exciting, and it’s very emotional, and I believe it’s funny in a couple of parts, and it builds and builds and builds, and it explodes,” said Gimple about the season 7 finale, on a panel at PaleyFest. “And though it promises more — because there is a whole lot to get to — there is an ending. It really is just a huge episode inasmuch as it has all of the flavors of this season.”
Gimple, who referred to the season 7 finale as the “end of a chapter,” says the last episode of the season “promises this gigantic, epic tale to come.” When the show returns for season 8, the premiere episode will mark the 100th episode of the series. But the team says it’s not about reaching a milestone.
“The first episode [of season 8] is, I think, less about [the fact] that we reached 100 episodes; it’s more about setting up the next 100 episodes,” Gimple said.
The season finale of The Walking Dead airs on April 2 at 9 p.m.