The Walking Dead cast and crew are preparing for an intense second half of season 8. In an exclusive behind-the-scenes video, the cast and crew break down where everyone is at when season 8 returns, right after the group learns that a walker has bitten Carl (Chandler Riggs).
“Their biggest strength is their tenacity and their determination to win,” executive producer Greg Nicotero says in the video of Rick and the gang “They want to survive. They want to set themselves up to build a community where life can go on. That’s the plan.”
Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes in the AMC drama, adds that death has changed them all. “I think the greatest strength we have is solidarity, the three communities working as one,” Lincoln says. “Ultimately the fallout from the loss makes people do different things.”
Nicotero, who’s worked on the show since its 2010 debut, notes that the group has a huge issue: They let their emotions interfere. “Their judgment gets clouded,” he explains. “When we reveal Carl is bit, that really is a defining moment that redirects Rick.”
Co-executive producer Denise Huth points out that while the group is strong, there is a “sense of defeat” after everything they’ve been through, especially with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). “When you’re fighting this war, you’re driven so much by rage, and it’s hard to let that rage carry you as long as it needs to carry you,” she says. “They’re in no way ready to back down, but they’re recognizing when it’s over, they may lose a lot more than they anticipated.”
The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, February 25, at 9 p.m. ET.
