With San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, fans of The Walking Dead got to find out plenty more regarding the final installment of the hit zombie apocalypse series.
A Q&A panel held in Hall H gave viewers a chance to find out more about what to expect when the final eight episodes drop, as well as revealed the premiere date for those episodes: October 2.
Already, it was expected that the characters would have to deal with the fallout from the finale for Season 11B that saw the Commonwealth come under direct scrutiny.
Thanks to Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton), Hilltop, Alexandria, and Oceanside were forcibly brought under the control of the Commonwealth and fans expect that the backlash from this will continue in Season 11C.
Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) is against Hornsby but others seem ready to follow in her footsteps now.
However, it seems these characters will also have to deal with “smart” walkers thanks to a tease within the new trailer for The Walking Dead.
New Season 11 trailer release reveals ‘smart’ zombies
Every year at San Diego Comic-Con, AMC likes to share the first full-length trailer for the upcoming season — and this year was no expectation. The clip gave fans plenty to mull over regarding the ongoing tensions between Maggie and the Commonwealth.
But then, at the end, they added a surprise twist.
At roughly the 2.36-minute mark, Aaron (Ross Marquand) is shown discussing the possibility of walkers being capable of more than just moaning, staggering, and eating humans.
“I’ve heard stories,” he said.
“Walkers that can climb walls and open doors. I was never sure if they were just stories.”
The clip then showed a walker climbing over a wall.
Of course, those who have watched The Walking Dead from Season 1 know already that there were a few walkers at the start that seemed able to advance beyond the normal.
Then, when The Walking Dead: World Beyond concluded, viewers were also introduced to the terrifying possibility of fast zombies.
It seems this new concept will be explored in the Daryl Dixon spinoff that is currently in production in Europe.
Now, the series heads speak out about what this all means moving forward into Season 11C.
These walkers are ‘variants,’ not ‘smart’
The Walking Dead showrunner, Angela Kang, explained that these new types of walkers shown in the latest trailer are both a “throwback” and a “variant” to what fans expect to see.
“I think with the walkers, in some way it is a throwback to some of the walkers we saw back in the very, very first season of The Walking Dead, but not everybody ever encountered those walkers,” Kang said, according to Digital Spy.
“It’s almost like it was a variant that just was regional. And anytime there is a change to the rules, that means that people just need to be that much on the penny because they are realizing that the methods that they used to survive don’t quite work the same way.”
Scott M. Gimple, the chief content advisor for The Walking Dead universe, also spoke out about what to expect.
“I wouldn’t co-sign on the word ‘smart’ for the walkers,” Gimple said.
Now, fans will have to wait until Season 11C drops in order to find out exactly how these new walkers fit into the universe.
Season 11C of The Walking Dead will premiere on October 2, 2022.