What's ahead for The Walking Dead? Comic writer and series executive producer Robert Kirkman offered up some vague updates on the anticipated fifth season of the AMC zombie drama, including what we should expect from the Season premiere. Assuming you're caught up on Season 4, vague spoilers (nothing major) ahead! If you're not caught up on Season 4, prepare to be spoiled.
When Season 4 of The Walking Dead left off, most of the (surviving) lead characters were last seen trapped inside a railroad car at Terminus, the place that was supposed to offer them shelter. Well, they got shelter alright. EW's Dalton Ross featured Robert Kirkman on their recent Inside TV Podcast, and the Walking Dead scribe confirmed that the characters will definitely get out of that train car. Yeah, they don't spend the entire fifth season trapped in there, which I don't think is a major reveal, but Kirkman's followup to that offers an interesting tease. "It is through ingenuity and creativity and somewhat savageness that they are able to make their way out of that train car," Kirkman said, in the interview. "They are definitely not in that train car for multiple seasons."
Savageness? Are we talking about Rick there or other characters? Rick showed his willingness to go full-savage on his enemies during the Season 4 finale, when he tore out Joe's throat. With his teeth. People might want to think twice about crossing him or threatening his kid. So we know Rick will do whatever it takes to protect his people, but I'll be curious to see if "savageness" applies to anyone else in that car.
Kirkman also adds that "There will be resolution as to whether or not they're trapped in that train car." Is he saying they might not be? The first look photo (above) revealed shows Rick peering out of a doorway, which could be the train car door. Maybe they're not locked in after all. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't allowed to leave. Still, it's an odd tease on Kirkman's part.
Kirkman also confirmed that we'll be getting to know the people of Terminus better.
I will say, there's a lot going on with Terminus. To a certain extent, at the end of Season 4, Terminus was a big mystery. I can say that in our premiere episode of Season 5, we're gonna give a ton of answers of who the people of Terminus are, what they're doing, why they're doing it, what's going on with them... By the end of that episode, you're going to have a much better understanding of what's going on with them and why they're so important to the show. And yeah, I think that's pretty much all I can say. Oh, and Daryl dies.
We're pretty sure he's joking about Daryl dying. Probably.
As for what he says about "to a certain extent... Terminus was a big mystery," that may be a reference to the widely spread theory -- spoiler alert, anyway! -- from comic book fans that the people of Terminus are the cannibals featured in the Walking Dead comics. Perhaps we'll learn whether or not that's actually the case in the premiere episode.
Finally, Kirkman talks about the comics that they're working on now. The Walking Dead comic series on which AMC's drama is based is still going, and from what Kirkman says, the comics that are coming out now could end up being adapted in seasons 10, 11 and 12, all depending on how the show adapts the story, and obviously assuming the series goes on for that long. It's not out of the question anyway. Though he notes that the comics they're working on now could end up being adapted for Season 15 of TWD, Kirkman sounds like he's looking at the show's predicted lifespan realistically...
It''s kind of a strange endeavor at this point, because the show is going so well and the source material is not ending anytime soon. The potential is pretty big. All that said, I'm just hoping we make it to Season 7, so we'll see."
We hope so too!
Find out everything we know about The Walking Dead Season 5 here.
