Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead for "The Walking Dead."
The season eight premiere of "The Walking Dead" was one of the show's largest episodes to date.
Not only did it bring together just about everyone on the show's large cast for its 100th episode, but it was a fast-paced, action-packed hour which may have left fans with more questions than answers. What was up with those flash-forwards? Why didn't Rick kill Negan when he clearly had the chance? And are we ever going to see Heath again?
INSIDER spoke with the show's executive producer and episode director Greg Nicotero about the biggest questions from the season premiere, a big moment you may have overlooked in plain sight, and his favorite Easter eggs on the episode.
Kirsten Acuna: I was surprised to see Old Man Rick on this episode. Why was it important to show him in the premiere? I thought we may see that a little bit later.
Greg Nicotero: Well, I think what we love to do on the show sometimes is give our audience some clues to a puzzle and allow them to start interpreting what it all means. I think the idea that we're going into war, the opportunity to get a glimpse of what life could be after the war is pretty great. That's what they're fighting for. They're fighting for this life, so I think it's important always to be able to give the audience little pieces of information and allow them to start working out what the details are. It's pretty great.
Acuna: Yes. Is that really supposed to be two years, like in the comics? Rick looks kind of old with the gray hair. And Judith looks quite a bit older.
Nicotero: Yeah. I think it's probably a little more than that, because Judith does look older and Rick looks ... He's just a little grayer with his crew cut and such. I don't know if we've ever really sort of worked out the exact timeline in terms of exactly how many years in the future it is, but Alexandria's a pretty exciting, great, thriving community.
Acuna: It looks that way. Well, it's good to know that that's Alexandria we see. It seems like we have a few timelines playing out on the episode. We have the regular one of them going to war. We see future Rick. Then there's this other Rick with the rainbow light shining on his face. It's a little confusing, but it seems like it will make sense as the season plays out. Is there anything you can say about that? I've seen some comparing it to the flash sideways scenes from "Lost."
Nicotero: Yeah. I mean, that will unfold as the series continues. I'm sad to say that I've never seen "Lost."
Acuna: Oh!
Nicotero: I know. I know. Simon Pegg has basically said, "When you have time, that's what you need to sit down and watch."
Acuna: Yes.
Nicotero: It gives me something to look forward to. But I know [showrunner] Scott [Gimple] is a big fan, so it's very possible that Scott has weaved some of those bits and pieces in there. I just might not be aware of it, because I'm not familiar, as familiar, with it.
Acuna: OK. Well, when you get a chance, it did feel like there was some of that influence there. Can we talk a bit about the role that time plays on the episode? I know I mentioned the timelines, but there's a lot of focus on watches and time. Why is that?
Nicotero: I think it's always a situation where we're dealing with a finite amount of time to actually accomplish what they need to do. The Saviors have numbers and strength behind them, so now the fact that our groups, our worlds, or our communities, have finally banded together, Maggie mentions, "Oh, we've all trained for this." They've spent several days working out what their plan is going to be, but there always is ... In any sort of orchestrated scenario like this, it has to be choreographed. We see a lot of bits and pieces of leading the herd towards the Sanctuary, and Carol and Tara are timing out how long the walkers are taking to get to certain road maps, so they know when to detonate the bomb, when to lead the herd off of the freeway and towards the Sanctuary. Everything is very elegantly choreographed for exactly that reason.
Acuna: I'm glad you mentioned the horde of walkers. You said at New York Comic Con there were a lot of Easter eggs on this episode. I was wondering if the herd Daryl helps direct towards the Sanctuary, may that be the same herd Joey was trying to misdirect on season seven before he was killed?
Nicotero: Yes. I think that's safe to say. We sort of played with the idea that that herd was trapped on the freeway, and it was the one that we saw in the midseason premiere of season seven where Rick and Michonne drive the cable through all the walkers. We discussed the intent that it is the same freeway that we've seen before.
Acuna: That's awesome to know. I've been keeping tabs on all the little mentions you guys have been throwing in along season seven. I think one of the biggest questions of the episode that fans will have is, "Why doesn't Rick just go and kill Negan?" I know that Gabriel stops him. He says it's not about him, it's about a larger world, but doesn't it end with killing Negan?
Nicotero: It does. But, I think what he's trying to say is it's not just about killing Negan, but it's about how and what they do after, which is ... It's a very important theme.
I think the fact that Gabriel and Negan end up together when Gabriel was the one that was saying, "This is not just about one person," I think he's also just trying to keep Rick focused and realize that he is their leader and they're following him into this battle where people could die.
Acuna: Also, I love that Rick takes that little Polaroid. I know the Saviors are into taking photos of people, but why does Rick take that specific one of Negan?
Nicotero: I think it's just like they did with Glenn and just like they did with all the other people that Negan killed with the bat. I think that was Negan's way of having some proof as to like, "Oh, this is what we're capable of doing." As sort of not necessarily a deterrent, but an opportunity to go, "Listen, if you go with us, you can live. If you don't, you go against us, this is what the result will be."
I think there's a little bit of glee from Rick when he takes that picture, because he's got a little smirk on his face.
Acuna: Oh, certainly.
Nicotero: I think we'll get a chance to see a little bit more of that as we continue.
Acuna: Interesting. One of the other big things people will be talking about is Rick's quote near the end of the episode. "My mercy prevails over my wrath." Why use that quote? I noticed it's from Islam, maybe a nod to a character we may see on the premiere.
Nicotero: Well, there is a character at the beginning [of the episode] who said that, the character that Carl hears in the gas station. He says that.
Acuna: Huh. I'm going to have to go back and listen. I missed that.
Nicotero: Yeah, unless it got cut out and I don't know about it, but I think it was ... I know it was in there when I shot it.
Acuna: OK. [For the record, we went back and watched the review episode after our interview and the line is in there when Carl is at the gas station. You have to listen carefully, or you may miss it.]
Nicotero: But yes, that has a significant place in terms of a character that's introduced.
For more on that mysterious character, you can read our full breakdown on him here.
Acuna: There are a lot of little Easter eggs and throwbacks to other episodes, as you mentioned at Comic Con. Some are obvious, like the shot-for-shot re-creation of the pilot opening. What is your favorite that people may overlook?
Nicotero: Oh, let me think. Well, we had Rick waking up in the bed with the flowers. We had the gas station sequence. Of course, there's that last shot of Gabriel and Negan in the trailer, and that high pull-up shot which is very reminiscent to the last shot in the pilot as well. There's several of those little pieces in there.
Acuna: Yeah. Negan asks Rick if he thinks he has the numbers for their war on the episode. Do we know how many men Negan has? I feel like this is something I've been wondering since the end of season six. Rick's group has taken out a lot of Saviors, but they always seem to keep popping up.
Nicotero: I don't think we've ever honestly defined that, because there are outposts. As we've seen in the show, every once in a while they will turn around and attack an outpost or come upon groups of people, but I don't know if we know exactly how many satellite outposts there are. It's hard to say. You have the people living in the Sanctuary, some of them that are workers and then some of them that are soldiers. I don't think we've really ever indicated an exact number of people.
Acuna: Right. OK. The start of "All Out War" in the show, it's very different from the comics. In the comics, there's a second lineup [of Rick's group that Negan does which mirrors the season seven premiere]. Were there ever plans to do that, or is that something that was maybe changed up after how the reception to season seven premiere was? I feel like you guys kind of hit on that on the season seven finale instead, when you just had Rick and Carl down on their knees.
Nicotero: Yeah. I think that's an accurate assessment, which was that, yeah, there was no reason to do it again, because Negan basically re-created that lineup again with Carl and Rick in the finale last year.
Acuna: OK, that was my sense watching the episode. That was the sense I got. I know Scott Gimple said something about this, but what is going on with Heath? I know Corey Hawkins is doing his own thing, but are we ever going to hear anything more of him? It just seems a little weird that no one has asked about where he is, unless that happened off-screen.
Nicotero: You know, I don't know. I love Corey. I think he's a fantastic actor. I think we were lucky enough to grab him right at the moment where he sort of exploded onto the scene, so to speak. We can always hope that he can pop up every once in a while, or we leave it a little mysterious. We haven't really addressed much of that as of late.
Acuna: Well, there's always time down the line. You guys brought back Lennie James [as Morgan] years later, and that has been wonderful to see. Greg, is there anything else that you want to share about working on the premiere episode? I know you've directed so many episodes. I believe we see your face in the premiere. You're one of the walkers, one of the disembodied heads.
Nicotero: Yeah, that was a little tribute to "Day of the Dead," which was my first movie. In the movie, my character gets killed, and then my head is reanimated as a zombie. We made a radio-controlled head of me as a tribute to that moment from "Day of the Dead."
We had built it long before we had ever even knew that George [Romero] was ill. Then of course, he passed away in July, so I'm even more honored that that's in there, because it's yet another opportunity for me and for all of those people that just love and respect what George has done for us to pay tribute to him in the episode.
Acuna: Certainly. Thank you for sharing that. Well, I really enjoyed the episode. I hope you're happy with how it turned out. I think the fans will be too.
Nicotero: Thank you for saying that. We're in it so much. We're just down there, and it's kind of our own little bubble. Then we get to come up for air and go to San Diego, and then come up for air and go to New York, and then we go right back down to our little place down there. It feels like this has been the longest season in terms of really the anticipation of the show coming back on the air. It feels like it gets longer and longer. It's not, but it just feels that way.
I'm really proud. I'm really excited. When I watched the episode, when it was over, I was like, "Oh my God, I can't wait to see what happens next." I'm like, "Wait a minute. I already know what happens next." If I had that reaction, I'm really excited to see how other people will react.
Acuna: I think one of the only problems I had was that I thought it was going to be like an extra-long episode like some of the other ones. I wanted there to be more.
Nicotero: You know what, this was such a complicated episode to shoot, because we had every single character in the whole show and all these locations, and setting the stage for the rest of the series. I would have loved it to have been a longer episode, but I honestly don't know how we would have made it longer, because it was just ... It's a dense episode. There's not one wasted frame of film.
This interview has been shortened and edited for clarity.
"The Walking Dead" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC. You can follow along with our coverage all season long here.
SEE ALSO: 13 details you may have missed on "The Walking Dead" season 8 premiere
DON'T MISS: 'The Walking Dead' season 8 premiere teases a big character from the comics — here's what to know
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