Two new characters will be brought in the eighth season of "The Walking Dead" to join the war between the Saviors and the combined forces of Alexandria, the Kingdom, and Hilltop.
In a scoop by TVLine, it was revealed that two recurring characters will be joining the cast. The first is Dillon, a man in his twenties who is said to include sarcasm in his survival kit arsenal. The second is Abbud, a likable Muslim American who is used to surviving alone. However, being a loner led him to have tightly-wound nerves.
It has not been revealed yet which side of the war these new characters will be in. Similarly, it is unclear how long these two will last on the show and how much airtime they will be getting, as both are only recurring characters and not main cast members. Of the two, however, Dillon seems to have a higher likelihood of surviving, at least until season 9, as the casting call indicated that the role may move forward beyond season 8, which is conspicuously absent from Abbud's character description.
No actors have been linked to these roles as of this writing.
Meanwhile, showrunner Scott M. Gimple revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that season 8 will have a much faster pace compared to the previous one, which was criticized by fans for its slow progression. He also indicated that it will have a different structure compared to the previous seasons.
He said, "It's going to affect the structure in ways that make it a bit more kinetic, a bit more breakneck – shifting away from entire stories in one episode, and sort of fractured over several episodes, with little pieces of each story coming together."
However, he mentioned that the possible cost of this change in pacing and structure is that less character-focused episodes will be shown on screen. He said, "Things are going to move, and possibly not have the kind of deep dives into characters in single episodes, but rather laying out the pieces as we go on."
According to Gamespot, season 8 of "The Walking Dead" will premiere in October on AMC, although the exact date has not been revealed yet. Production is set to start on May 1.
