The Walking Dead finale to serve as conclusion of the first 8 seasons

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

This coming Sunday will bring the eighth season of The Walking Dead to a close, and according to showrunner Scott Gimple when he spoke with Entertainment Weekly, it will also serve as a conclusion to the first eight seasons of the series.

It was a very hard season. And kind of everybody is in this episode. It was just intense. People were pretty to the limit this year emotionally. Also, this episode isn’t just like these 15 episodes coming to a conclusion, but Angela and myself and the writers had always talked about this in many ways being sort of the conclusion of the first eight seasons.

Scott Gimple, who will be stepping down as showrunner as he transitions into the newly created position of Chief Content Office for The Walking Dead franchise, added that the forthcoming ninth season of the series "will be very much a new show next year and with a bigger, new narrative. It was something I was really excited about getting into even before season 8. And so there was just a certain weight in the air of the kind of conclusion that we were getting closer to. It was a weird graduation for everybody." Despite finally calling it quits with The Walking Dead earlier this season, I feel compelled to tune into the finale, and perhaps, if the ninth season really does feel like a "new show," I'll be back for another season.

All Out War will come to an end on April 15th, but The Walking Dead finale will share the evening with the premiere of the fourth season of Fear the Walking Dead, which will find Morgan Jones (Lennie James) crossing over to join the companion series. Will you be watching?