The Walking Dead’s eight season began production a few weeks ago and we’re excited to bring you some details from the set! Below are excerpts from an Entertainment Weekly Radio interview with Walking Dead Co-Executive Producer Denise Huth, who’s thrilled so far with the new season. (Make sure to catch the rest of the interview here).
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You all are filming the 100th episode. You’ve been there for all of them. What does this mean for you and your team?
DENISE HUTH: It’s kind of surreal in a way. Back when we started, we never imagined we’d make it to 100 episodes. It seemed like such a far-off goal, it was hard to even contemplate at that time — we just wanted a second season. It’s a huge compliment, the fact that we’ve been able to grow the story and grow the show and very year it gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger.
This year, that’s certainly the case as well.The energy here is really good. Everybody is super-pumped up and it’s particularly exciting coming off of last year where the season premiere last year was a total 180 energy-wise. It was really tough way to start the season and this year is a really exciting way to start.
EW: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Lennie James, and others all talked pretty openly about how difficult last season was to film because the characters were all separated and really depressed and having to take crap from this Negan dude. How much more fun is it to film now as we head into the “All Out War” arc from the comics?
DH: Oh, gosh, it’s like night and day compared to how we had to start last year. They all came back so super excited and it’s a big year. These episodes are coming in huge. It’s a lot of work. It’s just as hard as it’s ever been, if not harder. There’s just a sense of excitement because the characters aren’t in that dark, down place. It was really hard last year.
It was hard for the cast, it was hard for the crew, it was hard for all of us. It was a really essential part of the story, and I think we needed to go through that pain to have what we’re doing now be so satisfying. If everything we are doing now had happened in the third or fourth episode last year, it would still be cool, but it wouldn’t have the impact now because we’ve all had to trudge through the mud to get here. So it’s great.
EW: You can’t tell us what is happening in the premiere, but give us a few adjectives to describe what fans are going to see.
DH: It’s a ton of action. It’s super exciting. I think it will be really, really satisfying. As a fan of the show — and I am a fan of the show — when I read it, it was like “Awww, I can’t wait! It’s going to be great!” It’s worth the worth the wait to get to this moment.
Make sure to catch the rest of the interview over at Entertainment Weekly!
