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This recap contains spoilers for The Indonesia ArchivesWalking Dead Season 8, episode 1, titled "Mercy."

The title for The Walking Dead's Season 8 premiere couldn't be more appropriate; after last season saw our heroes being continually outwitted and oppressed by Negan and his brutal Saviors, this opening hour showed our characters andthe audience some mercy, with the forces of Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom banding together to fight back against the bat-wielding bully.

The triumphant tone of the premiere fulfilled the promise of the Season 7 finale and leveled the playing field between Rick's posse and the bad guys; ending with the Saviors' base being overrun with walkers and leaving two unlikely characters -- Negan and Father Gabriel -- trapped in a trailer with no obvious way out. While you might expect Negan to want to kill the preacher outright (or at least use him as a human shield), it sounds like there'll be a little more to their storyline in coming episodes.

"It's just interesting to see them learn about one another, and to interact," showrunner Scott Gimple tells us. "I mean, when they first interacted in Alexandria, I thought it was hilarious. They're two just tremendous actors, and sometimes you game it like, 'Let's see those guys together.' There's actually a pretty big point to it. But, they do some wonderful work together."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Gimple hints that we'll be learning a lot more about Negan in Season 8, especially when it comes to challenging the seemingly confident villain's worldview (something that Gabriel could feasibly be a part of).

When asked about his goals for Negan this season, the showrunner explains, "It was to dig a little deeper into him. For him to be tested in ways that aren't just physical. That what he's doing and how he does it is not only explained a bit more -- his thinking and why he does how he does -- but also to test that. To test whether his approach really works, and if it doesn't work with a guy like Rick ... Negan's whole point of view, his whole approach to the apocalypse, and to his life, is pretty tested."

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"Mercy" also continued the show's tradition of toying with time, seemingly presenting at least three different periods in Rick's life -- the present, what seemed to be the near future, and something a few years down the road. Robert Kirkman's comics also featured a time jump after the "All Out War" arc that the show is currently adapting, showing Rick with a bushy beard, buzzcut and cane, all of which we saw in the Season 8 premiere. Judging by Judith's age, the time jump is only a few years, which would seem to align with Kirkman's comics, despite fans predicting a longer gap given how grizzled Rick looks.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"I think if people look at Rick's beard currently, it's pretty salty," Gimple quips, when asked whether he made Rick look a little older than he should be just to tease Andrew Lincoln. "I think gray is beautiful. There's some of it there, and living through the apocalypse is kind of like being president, it really ages you. I think his skin was as resplendent as ever."

Still, Gimple hints that the show's non-linear narrative will continue, so we shouldn't get too comfortable. "Not a whole lot of time passes, in certain ways, but, yeah, there might be some monumental things, as well," he says. "The first four episodes just rip along, essentially, the same day. Then we start crossing into another day, I believe."

And, for fans who were frustrated by the show's tendency to split its core cast up and focus on only one or two characters per episode in recent seasons, Gimple has some reassurance.

"People might be somewhat split up, but not completely on their own -- like split up into very big groups, and crossing over with everybody else a lot more. There are a lot of people in every episode. There have not been those call sheets where it's only been a couple people. There are smaller episodes, but even smaller episodes have been a ton of people," he admits. "We knew that that was going to be the case, even before Season 7. Because this storyline and adapting it from the comic, it's a bigger story and people are together in these giant groups. So, yeah, it's very different, in that regard, from our previous season."

The Walking DeadSeason 8 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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Topics The Walking Dead