Season 8 (TV Series)

Season 8 of AMC's The Walking Dead consists of sixteen episodes; it premiered on October 22, 2017. The show was renewed on October 16, 2016.

This season adapts material from Issue #115 onward of the Comic Series.

"Mercy"
Light plays across a sweating, seemingly exhausted Rick’s face.

Rick stands at the Hilltop graves, lost in thought.

Residents of Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom prepare for battle at the colony; they prepare reinforcements and armour for their vehicles.

At the Sanctuary, a crossbow bolt pierces Dwight’s motorcycle tire. He unrolls the note that’s attached. It reads, “Tomorrow.”

Carol and Tara stand watch on a bridge. Tara checks the time. They spot a herd of walkers in the distance and smile.

Rick gives a rousing speech to the united communities, reminding them they’re fighting for their futures, for a bigger world. He vows to stop the Saviors and kill Negan, the only one who truly has to die. Maggie and Ezekiel echo Rick’s sentiments.

Dwight writes a response, secures the note to the bolt and shoots it back toward Daryl, waiting outside the Sanctuary.

Carol and Tara sit on the bridge and wait as the herd of walkers moves along the road below.

Rick sleeps in bed. His beard is full and white. Flowers sit on a nearby table. Hearing music, he wakes.

Carl searches a gas station for fuel. He comes across a nervous stranger who asks for help. He also says "May my mercy prevail over my wrath," adding that he's quoting the Koran. Carl raises his gun, but the man insists he just wants food. As Carl is considering his request, Rick appears and chases the man away with a gunshot above his head. Carl tells Rick that hope will not be enough in their struggle against the Saviors.

Daryl and Morgan kill Saviors at various lookout points. One by one, they cross the targets off a list supplied by Dwight.

In Alexandria, Rick and other community members mobilize for an attack on the Sanctuary.

Daryl joins Carol, Tara and Morgan on the highway.

Rick leaves Alexandria with a caravan of vehicles that have been retrofitted for battle. Rosita watches from her porch, still recovering. Michonne and Carl stay behind with a few other residents. As they watch the procession of vehicles, Michonne tells Carl that this is his show; Alexandria’s safety is in his hands.

En route to the Sanctuary, Rick comes across a lone Savior on watch; he stabs the man and sifts through his belongings. The injured Savior taunts Rick, telling him that he will kneel again before the Saviors, and that his son will die. Angered, Rick frees a walker tethered to a nearby electric post and leaves it to feast on the dying man. He then signals the caravan to proceed.

The caravan arrives in a large field, where members of all three communities are waiting. Dianne reassures Andy's safety as Tobin, Bertie, and Daniel chat nearby. Aaron approaches Eric and questions if he is praying. Scott and Freddie inspect armored vehicles as Jerry insists that Enid wear additional armor for her chest. Alvaroguides a leashed Shiva from a Kingdom bus. Other militia members mingle and mill about the clearing. Maggie insists on joining the initial phase of the fight, despite being pregnant. Ezekiel offers to let Maggie see the Kingdom’s doctor, but Jesus assures him they’ll retrieve Doctor Carson, who was previously taken by the Saviors. Rick vows to relinquish leadership and follow Maggie after the fight is over.

Carol, Daryl, Morgan and Tara wait on the highway until the herd arrives; they vacate the road in haste. Moments later, the SUV they parked on the exit ramp explodes. Dwight dispatches a large team of Saviors to investigate the explosion. Daryl and Morgan rig a tripwire across a road. They join Carol and Tara on a pedestrian overpass.

Rick’s group guns down two sniper lookouts at the Sanctuary as Dwight nonchalantly walks inside. The caravan arrives at the front gate, parking in formation to create a wall with the metal sheets retrofitted onto each vehicle. Maggie gives the signal and the group raises their guns toward the sky, shooting in unison. Negan steps out with his lieutenants.

Light plays across Rick’s face. He looks up at a stained glass window.

White-bearded Rick gets out of bed and finds Michonne in the dining room of their Alexandria home. He walks over to her with his cane, a noticeable limp in his stride. Carl joins them.

Rick tells Negan’s lieutenants — Dwight, Simon, Gavin, Regina and Eugene — that he will let them live if they surrender. No one accepts his offer.

The group on the overpass spots a walker nearing the tripwire.

Negan tells Rick that he lacks the numbers to win a fight against the Saviors. At Negan’s command, Simon brings Gregory outside. Gregory declares that the Hilltop stands with Negan and the punishment for fighting against the Sanctuary is banishment for the offenders and their families. “The Hilltop stands with Maggie!” Jesus shouts.

Morgan kills the stray walker endangering the tripwire and sees the caravan of Saviors in the distance.

Simon pushes Gregory down the stairs after deciding he’s no longer useful.

On the road, the Savior caravan trips the wire and sets off an explosion.

The explosion is heard at the Sanctuary. Rick tells Negan’s lieutenants to make up their minds; he begins firing when they don’t respond. Negan’s crew runs for cover in different directions. Rick’s group continues firing, blowing out the Sanctuary windows. The herd approaches, drawn by the explosion. Morgan and Tara get in a car, preparing to leave. Carol urges Daryl to be careful.

Rick’s group continues to spray bullets at the Sanctuary, then retreats to their cars for evacuation.

Daryl shoots a succession of explosive barrels while riding his motorcycle toward the Sanctuary, guiding the herd.

Gabriel positions the RV in front of the Sanctuary fence, and exits as it continues slowly moving forward. Rick uses the garage door opener to detonate the explosives in the RV, successfully breaching the gate. Negan takes cover behind a vehicle, as Rick continues firing at him. Gabriel urges Rick to evacuate. Before he goes, Rick uses an instant camera to snap a picture of the scene. Rick leaves as the herd closes in on the Sanctuary; Gabriel gets in his car, ready to follow suit. Just then, he sees Gregory crying for help and runs to his aid. Gregory jumps into Gabriel’s car and drives off, abandoning him.

Carl returns to the gas station and leaves two cans of food with a note, “Sorry.” The mysterious man watches from the bushes.

Rick’s group waits for Gabriel at their rendezvous point. Rick tells Daryl that Gabriel stayed behind to save him, but they can’t wait for him any longer. Daryl signals the group to get back in their vehicles. They prepare to enact the next phase of their plan.

A small group of soldiers from the militia (which includes Morgan, Tara, Jesus and Dianne) stands outside the fence of the satellite station outpost they previously cleared out. It has since been re-settled by Saviors. Morgan asks Dianne if she’ll be able to hit the guards through the fence using her arrows. She expresses doubt.

At a second Savior outpost, Daryl and Rick shoot a guard and enter the front gate.

Carol and Ezekiel lead another group toward a third Savior outpost. They see a Savior guarding the front entrance and shoot at him. However, they all miss and the Savior ducks behind a car for cover. He then throws a smoke grenade at the group which explodes, creating a big cloud of smoke.

Meanwhile, Walkers continue to flood into the Sanctuary's grounds. Gabriel takes cover inside a trailer only to find it already occupied by Negan. Walkers surround the trailer as they swarm the Sanctuary.

Judith, now a child of 6 or 7 years old, runs up to white-bearded Rick in the kitchen. They walk to the porch and see people setting up a festival across the street.

Lights dance on Rick’s face. He says to himself, "My mercy...prevails...over my wrath", chuckling.

Rick concludes his speech to the unified communities. He urges them to fight for tomorrow, assuring them they’ve already won. The crowd cheers, ready for battle.

"The Damned"
At a Savior outpost in an abandoned insurance office, a group of over a dozen Saviors are going about their business in the coutyard. The lieutenant, Mara, is overseeing activities and senses something is wrong. She orders the guards to lockdown the building, just as several vehicles from the Militia pull up at speed, their occupants opening fire. Several Saviors are gunned down and the rest take cover as Aaron, Eric, Tobin, Francine and numerous other Alexandrians exit their armoured vehicles and begin the assault.

Meanwhile, at the Satellite Outpost previously cleared out by the Alexandrians, Morgan, Tara, Jesus, Andy, Freddie and Dianne scout out the area. Having reclaimed the building, to provide extra protection from outside threats, the Saviors have constructed a moat surrounding it consisting of two fences filled in the middle with walkers. The group create a plan to distract the walkers, creating a gap and allowing Dianne to silently take out the guards with her bow. Elsewhere, at the Savior lookout post, Carol and Ezekiel lay stunned by the explosion of the grenade thrown by the lookout. As they recover, they are attacked by walkers, and are able to take them out with the help of the half dozen Kingdommers accompanying them. The Savior, Nelson, has escaped, and Carol warns that he will almost certainly be heading to the outpost in the woods to the north to warn them, in which case they will lose their advantage. Ezekiel confidently declares that they will catch up before he can do this, and tells one of his men to return to the staging area to bring the rest of the regiment along with Shiva.

Back at the office outpost, the militia and Savior frantically exchange fire. The Saviors are at a clear disadvantage, pinned into a relatively small area, outnumbered, and with inferior cover. Francine tells the others to keep them pinned so they will "have bigger problems than us." While this is happening, Rick, Daryl and three others enter the building from another direction, silently taking out the two guards. While the others stay behind to watch for Saviors retreating inside from the courtyard, Rick and Daryl go from room to room searching foe the weapons armory. Outside, Mara tells her people to try and create an opening to exploit. At the Satellite Outpost, Morgan attracts the walkers in the moat to a specific location, creating an opening which Dianne used to take out the two guards. They then enter the building armed with silenced handguns, taking out patrols as they make their way deeper into the compound alongside approximately two dozen militia soldiers. They form up outside the various inhabited rooms and await Jesus' signal to attack.

In the office building, Rick scrutinises the layout provided by Dwight. Upon rejoining with Daryl and having swept the ground floor, they deduce that the weapons, including 50 calibers, must be upstairs. Outside, Mara assumes that the Militia are too cautious to push up, and decides to take the initiative instead. When Scott raises his concern about the Saviors spreading out, Aaron reiterates that the plan is to keep them penned in. At the Satellite outpost, Jesus gives the signal, and the Militia soldiers burst into the rooms and begin taking out Saviors, catching them by surprise. Morgan, Freddie and Andy prepare to breach a door, but before they can do so, a Savior opens it, and they promptly gun him down. Unbeknownst to them, at least half a dozen others were behind a corner, and before they can react, Freddie and Andy are killed and Morgan is concussed.

Rick and Daryl arrive on the second floor, and Daryl expresses doubt that Dwight's instructions were accurate, but Rick points out that they have been so far. He tells Daryl that they will use the heavy artillery to take out the Saviors in the courtyard below, bringing a swift end to the battle. They split up. As they sweep the station, Jesus and Tara discover a Savior named Dean cowering in a closet, having seemingly peed himself in fear. He claims to be a worker from the Sanctuary forced from his family. Jesus decides to show mercy and let him live, but Tara is furious, desiring to kill all the Saviors out of revenge for Denise. Outside the room, Dianne and the others have been pinned down by Saviors, and the gunfire provides a distraction for Dean to take Jesus hostage, revealing his deception. Before he can shoot Tara, Jesus swiftly disarms him with his skills in martial arts. Regardless, he refuses to kill Dean, instead choosing to tie him up, much to Tara's disgust. Over the radio, the Saviors order a retreat from the outpost, so they join the others to press the attack. Morgan awakens, wounded but alive. He loads two handguns and pursues the fleeing Saviors.

At the battle in the office courtyard, Tobin is shot in the shoulder and taken out of the fight. As some of the fallen Saviors begin to reanimate around her, Mara realises, too late, that the militia never intended to press an attack. She is swiftly set upon by a walker and killed. In the woods, Ezekiel, Carol and the Kingdommers pursue Nelson, leaving a trail for the others to follow. Carol is pessimistic of their chances if he makes it back to the outpost, by Ezekiel reasons that pessimism doesn't bare thinking about, and remains confident of a successful outcome. They discover fresh blood, indicating that one of them hit Nelson, thereby slowing him down. With renewed optimism, they pick up the pace. Daryl searches the office block room to room and discovers a small cavity with a shackled handcuff and stale food; it is a cell for torture, similar to the one he was subjected to at the Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Rick finds a large living space, with a neatly kept bedroom. As he tries to break into a locked room, he is attacked by a Savior. The two grapple on the floor, the man pins Rick to the ground and repeatedly punches him in the face, but is forced off. They exchange blows and the man knocks Rick's gun away when he draws it. Rick finally gains the upper hand, kicking the man repeatedly before grabbing him in a headlock and demanding the location of the guns. The Savior denies the presence of any firearms, and as he is chocked out, an exhausted Rick throws him against a spike on the wall, impaling him.

At the Satellite Station, Morgan marches through the compound, killing every Savior he encounters in a trance-like state. He remembers the exchange he had with Rick several weeks earlier when he tried to talk them down from fighting the Saviors. Outside, Jesus leads the rest of the fighters to the back exit of the compound, intercepting around a dozen fleeing Saviors, including Dillon, who appear to consist mostly of workers. Heavily outnumbered and outgunned, they surrender without a fight, but Tara angrily declares that even if Maggie listens to Jesus' reasoning, Rick will listen to hers. Meanwhile, Morgan continues his killing spree, before finally emerging outside. Still reeling and unbalanced, he is shocked to see the Militia taking hostages. He remembers his argument with Rick over whether or not it is worth preserving life, even that of an enemy. He is shaken from his trance when he sees Jared amongst the captured Saviors. He is prevented from killing him by Jesus, who insists that they do not kill those who surrender. Eduardo takes a polaroid photograph of the Saviors.

In the office building, Rick retrieves keys from the dead Savior's pocket, and enters the locked room. Inside, to his shock and horror, he finds a decorated child’s room, and a baby called Gracie, no more than a few months old, asleep in a crib. Realising that he had killed the infant's father, Rick reels in disgust and dismay. Back in the woods, Ezekiel and the Kingdommers finally catch up with the retreating Savior, just as the rest of their regiment, over two dozen strong, arrive on their heels. Shiva intercepts the Savior and mauls him to death. In the office courtyard, the militia start to take losses as the Saviors desperately try to push them back. Francine is amongst those killed, shot in the chest when she became distracted. Eric is witness to her death, and is visibly upset. Aaron and Scott attempt to get better angles on their adversaries, and Aaron sees that Eric is pinned down. He uses a Car to run over and kill three Saviors before rushing to his side. He is horrified to discover that Eric has been shot in the stomach and is bleeding profusely. He desperately carries him away from the firefight.

Ezekiel and his people regroup in the woods, where they hear on the radio that the nearby Savior outpost is sending out an active patrol, indicating that they know the Kingdommers are coming. Despite the concern of his closest advisors, Ezekiel is unfazed, and confidently prepares for the upcoming attack.

Rick comes across another living quarter in the office outpost, and discovers an old family photograph, which seemingly startles him. Just then, a man comes up behind Rick and holds him at gunpoint. As he turns, Rick is astonished to see Morales, alive and well, and clearly hardend by survival. He acknowledges Rick, who tells him that he was in Atlanta. Morales retorts that it was a long time ago, and firmly tells Rick that it is over; he reveals that he has called the Saviors back. A stunned Rick is at a loss for words.

Cast
Season 8 (TV Series)/Starring|Starring Season 8 (TV Series)/Also Starring|Also Starring Season 8 (TV Series)/Co-Stars|Co-Stars Season 8 (TV Series)/Uncredited|Uncredited

Deaths

 * Gordon (Zombified, Off-Screen)
 * Andy
 * Freddie
 * Dino (Alive)
 * Mara
 * Gracie's Father
 * Nelson
 * Francine
 * Miranda Morales (Confirmed Fate)
 * Eliza Morales (Confirmed Fate)
 * Louis Morales (Confirmed Fate)
 * Morales
 * Huck
 * Eric Raleigh (Alive)
 * Todd
 * At least 8 unnamed Alexandria residents
 * At least 50 unnamed Saviors
 * Multiple unnamed members of The Militia

Trivia

 * This season is mainly based on "Volume 20: All Out War - Part One" and "Volume 21: All Out War - Part Two" from the Comic Series.


 * The season 8 premiere marked the 100th episode of AMC's The Walking Dead.
 * It has been announced that actress Maria Bello has been cast in Season 8.
 * Below are the changes made to the main cast in Season 8.
 * Khary Payton (Ezekiel), Steven Ogg (Simon), Katelyn Nacon (Enid), and Pollyanna McIntosh (Jadis) have all been upgraded to series regulars after recurring appearances.
 * Seth Gilliam (Gabriel) and Ross Marquand (Aaron) are added to the opening credits after being listed in "Also Starring" in Seasons 5, 6 and 7.
 * Austin Amelio (Dwight), Tom Payne (Jesus), and Xander Berkeley (Gregory) are still listed under "Also Starring" despite being regulars in previous seasons.
 * Following Sasha's death in "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life", Sonequa Martin-Green has been removed from the opening credits.
 * Jordan Woods-Robinson (Eric), Cooper Andrews (Jerry) and Jayson Warner Smith (Gavin) are upgraded from "Co-Stars to "Also Starring".


 * AMC announced The Walking Dead Play Dead Sweepstakes, which gave four lucky fans the chance to play a walker in the 100th episode (Season 8 premiere) of The Walking Dead. The sweepstakes began with the Mid-Season Premiere of Season 7.