The Walking Dead showrunner reveals war against Negan will end in season 8

This article contains some minor comic book spoilers

The Walking Dead showrunner has teased how season eight of the AMC series will end.

In a brand new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scott Gimple gave a definitive answer as to how long the war between Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) will last, stating: “[It] will absolutely be resolved by the end of season eight.“

This revelatory admission will inject fans with renewed excitement who, going by fallen ratings, seemed to fall out of love with the popular series during its seventh run. By the sounds of it, producers have taken these figures into account and will deliver an action-packed season with a fresh sense of direction.

How this will affect the confirmed 'Old Man Rick' time jump - the one that will see the show's seasoned protagonist in a hospital bed at an unspecified time in the future - remains to be seen, however, it has fans convinced this mirrors the comic book moment which sees a time-jump once the war is concluded (no spoilers on how it all ends).

Still, Negan - alive or dead - can't be the show's central villain forever, and now fans are preempting the introduction of another threat seen in the comic books, namely the Whisperers. Asked whether the faction's female leader Alpha would be making her debut in the forthcoming eighth season, Gimple responded: “I’m going to give you a full no-comment on that.”

The Walking Dead season eight's confirmed air date is 22 October in the US on AMC with the UK premiere arriving the following evening (23 October) on FOX. On 20 September, it was announced by AMC that the premiere will have an extended runtime of 67 minutes.

You can find a compilation of everything we know about season eight so far here.