Why The Walking Dead's Final Season Might Look Familiar To Fans
AMC's "The Walking Dead" is about to air its 11th and final season on August 22, but it won't be the end of all "Walking Dead"-related content — there are still two existing spinoff shows, "Fear the Walking Dead" and "The Walking Dead: World Beyond," the upcoming Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) spinoff, plus three standalone films about Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). Still, it feels like the end of an era.
Coming into Season 11, "The Walking Dead" looks almost entirely different than it did during its inaugural season. In the TV series' timeline of events, it's now more than 12 years since Rick Grimes woke from his coma. Almost all of the original group of Atlanta survivors are either dead or missing, with the exceptions of Daryl and Carol. Atlanta itself is just a distant memory. Since leaving The Big Peach, Rick and the gang have traveled up and down the East Coast, finally settling in Alexandria. They've faced off against a series of increasingly dangerous and psychopathic enemies, from the Governor and Negan in earlier seasons, to the well-trained and equipped militia The Commonwealth in Season 11.
But even though "The Walking Dead" might be in a completely different place than it was when it premiered in 2010, longtime fans of the series will still find the closing season familiar. Recently, executive producer Denise Huth spoke about how "The Walking Dead" Season 11 echoes the show's origins.
The Walking Dead will end by going back to the beginning
During a preview of Season 11 with the TWDUniverse channel on Twitch (via ComicBook.com), Huth described how the finale compares visually with the show's first season. "The thing I've noticed the most this year is actually just some of the shots, the way the directors are choosing to film things feels very Season 1 to me," she said. "There's a few moments where I'm just like, 'Oh!' It takes my breath away, it takes me right back to the pilot. There are subtle moments that are in there and some that are a little more obvious, but we always remember where we came from."
Huth didn't specify which details from the 11th season reminded her of Season 1. But if the directors specifically paid homage to the pilot episode, there are lots of iconic moments that might get an encore. "Rick waking up from the coma," "the bicycle girl zombie," or "Rick on a tank surrounded by a sea of walkers" would all be good candidates. But based on Huth's comments, it sounds like Season 11 will have tons of small visual Easter eggs. And that's a great way to reward longtime fans.