Production began on The Walking Dead Season 8 exactly one week ago today, with the Season 8 premiere also marking the 100th episode of the series. Over the weekend, young actor Daniel Newman, who plays a Kingdom soldier named Daniel on the hit zombie series, shared a photo with series star Andrew Lincoln, while congratulating him on 100 episodes of the show. The photo was later deleted, which could be because the background offers subtle spoilers for fans.
The original photo was posted on Daniel Newman's Instagram yesterday, before it was ultimately removed, although it was archived and posted on Imgur. The caption is fairly innocuous, stating that Andrew Lincoln was "the best" and the "coolest guy," before congratulating him on hitting the 100-episode milestone with the series. At first glance, there seems to be nothing overtly spoiler-y about the image, but after taking a closer look, it seems this photo may have been taken on The Sanctuary set. If that's true, then it could mean that Rick is not hesitating at all, taking the battle to the Saviors' home base right away.
The image shows Daniel Newman, Andrew Lincoln and another actor standing next to a stairway, but in the background, fans can see a number of rust-colored pipes. Photos from last season have shown that the Saviors' main compound known as The Sanctuary features these same rust-colored pipes, leading to speculation that this photo was actually taken on The Sanctuary set. If that is the case, then it seems that Rick may be taking his war with The Saviors to their own home turf in the Season 8 premiere. Naturally, that is a lot of speculation based on the color of some pipes in the background of a set photo, but still, it wouldn't be surprising if Rick starts off this war with an aggressive approach.
Showrunner Scott M. Gimple has teased that The Walking Dead Season 8 has an intense, breakneck pace, which is quite a big step up from the controversial Season 7, which plodded along at a much slower pace, particularly in the first half of the season. The Season 7 finale ended with the start of this war, as members from The Kingdom and the Hilltop Colony came to the aid of Rick and Alexandria, pushing Negan and the Saviors back to win the first battle of many in this war to come. This season will be following the All Out War comics arc, a two-volume story that spanned 12 episodes, which will most likely play out over the course of the 16-episode season, but we haven't gotten confirmation from Scott M. Gimple about how this pivotal comic book story will be adapted for the small screen.
We reported last month that three more actors have been promoted to series regulars, Pollyanna McIntosh, who plays the Scavengers leader Jadis, Stephen Ogg, who plays the Savior Simon, and Katelyn Nacon, who plays the Alexandrian Enid. They will be joined by returning regulars Andrew Lincoln (Rick), Chandler Riggs (Carl), Norman Reedus (Daryl), Melissa McBride (Carol), Lennie James (Morgan), Lauren Cohan (Maggie), Danai Gurira (Michonne), Alanna Masterson (Tara), Josh McDermitt (Eugene), Christian Serratos, (Rosita), Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel), Ross Marquand (Aaron), Austin Amelio (Dwight), Tom Payne (Jesus), Xander Berkeley (Gregory) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan). Take a look at this new set photo from The Walking Dead Season 8 below, along with a photo from the Season 7 episode "Hostiles and Calamaties" which shows the rust-colored pipes.
