The reason why 3 main The Walking Dead characters won’t be in part of season eight

With the seventh season of The Walking Dead wrapping just before all-out war commences, fans are already eagerly awaiting season eight. Showrunner Scott M. Gimple has been teasing details, recently telling The Hollywood Reporter there could very well be a time jump sometime soon.

Spoilers for the comics: In the Robert Kirkman penned series, Rick Grimes – played by Andrew Lincoln in the TV adaptation – manages to end the war with Negan and the Saviours.

However, during issue 127, there’s a time jump of several years, the story picking up with Grimes having made Alexandria into a true Safe Zone.

Several areas – including the Hilltop and The Kingdom – have been linked up, several communities working in harmony to live normal lives once more. Of course, the story wouldn’t pick up again if something didn’t go catastrophically wrong (which it does)…

MORE: The Walking Dead season 8: Showrunner Scott Gimple teases time-jump | The Independent