Today’s the day millions of rabid fans have been waiting for; The season 5 premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
This season’s tagline reads “Hunt Or Be Hunted.” For those of us who devour the comic books, we see this as an allusion to the Hunters story arch a few years back. This is the same arch that revealed the cannibals that the Terminus survivors may be based on. But does something more sinister await our survivors outside og Box Car A? Andrew “Rick Grimes” Lincoln told EW “Some of the most lifelike moments are the zombies now. And I think that that’s a huge change. It feels real after these people have been inhabiting this world for two years, you know? The people left are going to be just as equally pragmatic and brutal, and tough, and resilient. So the clash in this season, and the conflict and the fear and the terror comes directly from the humans.” Is this were the survivors meet the damaged Father Gabriel Stokes? How can the world outside of Terminus be worse than the terrors inside?
GMA’s Dan Harris traveled to the Atlanta area during this season’s filming, and gave viewers this morning a glimpse of what’s to come this season. While on set, Harris spoke with Dania Gurira, Steven Yeun, Josh McDermitt and Norman Reedus. Harris’ story also showed us the lighter side of Michael Cudlitz and Alanna Masterson between takes. While no major spoilers were revealed, one can guess that, since Yeun was in costume while being interviewed, Glenn makes it out of Terminus alive.
Walker Stalkers revealed months ago that Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus were seen filming in Atlanta. McBride’s stunt double was seen being hit by a police car. Does this mean that Carol and Daryl are able to track down Emily Kinney’s Beth Greene? It was alluded to that Beth escaped the funeral home that she and Daryl had taken refuge in during the tail end of season 4 after Daryl saw a black car fleeing the property.
AMC, along with renewing the show for a 6th season, has also ordered a script for a spin-off of the show. Could the departure of Daryl and Carol mean that the spin-off will include these two and Beth? Reedus’ Daryl Dixon is the show’s most popular character and I can’t imagine AMC would ever put him in jeopardy. What a better way of making the show more money than having the spin-off revolve around Dixon?
Set photos from Senoia, Georgia, where Woodbury was staged, have revealed massive walls were being constructed a few months ago. Rumors lit the internet like wild fire that these were the walls for the Alexandira Safe Zone. Readers of the comics will know that Alexandria is where our survivors end up on their way to Washington D.C.
The Walkers will also become more diverse. Scott Gimple said at the 2014 Comicon panel, “As we go on we’re going to see all sorts of different walkers … all sorts of different types of people who are people that then become walkers … people who are walkers … you’re going to see a lot of stuff is what I’m saying.”
The Huffington Post reported “It’s been widely reported that major characters are dying in Season 5, and you probably won’t have to wait very long for it to happen. Supporting this, Kirkman told The Hollywood Reporter that it’s “always extremely likely” that major characters will die and that, though Season 4 “let off the reins” in terms of deaths, Season 5 “hits the ground running” and doesn’t let up.” Norman Reedus told HuffPost Entertainment, “Grab your tissues.”
This season will be rough on the survivors. Lincoln was recently interviewed by MTV. Lincoln, sporting a full beard, didn’t give any spoilers, but seeing the beard lets us know that the survivors are spending their time on the run.
Being filmed during the summer, sadly we’ll never get to see what it’s like for our group during the colder months. This means we’ll never get to see Wiltshire Estates or the troubles the survors have when the walkers freeze. However, this will be only the second season to pick up right where the previous left off.
Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, has said that this season will stick closely to the stories in the comics. Kirkman also said that a major villain would be introduced in season 5. Does this mean Negan is very far off? And will the introduction of Negan be heralded by the deaths of Abraham and Glenn as it was in the comics?
Without a doubt, this season, as the previous season’s have, will raise the bar on the show’s brutality.
