The Walking Dead is about to celebrate a major television milestone: the coveted 100th episode.
For a cast who didn’t think they would make it to a second season let alone an eighth, being able to ring in the occasion with longtime fans is a big deal. Instead of just moving past the 100th episode without any kind of celebratory affair, director Greg Nicotero told a panel at New York Comic Con they have something special in store. The episode will contain throwbacks to some of the series’ most iconic scenes aired over the last seven seasons.
During The Walking Dead’s panel at New York Comic Con, Nicotero played a clip from the episode. In it, Carl Grimes is walking through a deserted gas station lined with cars, looking for tanks to siphon gas from. The scene is a recreation of The Walking Dead’s opening scene from the pilot, but Carl is swapped in for his father, Rick.
Nicotero said the episode will be full of scene recreations and clues for eagle-eyed fans. Based on the clip starring Carl, it seems like characters will reenact scenes originally played by other actors in the show.
Earlier that day, Nicotero told a group of journalists that the eighth season is quite different on a technical level than what fans are used to. Instead of craning shots, scenes will appear more static. Nicotero said he wanted to make every scene a work of art, comparing the new technique to that of director Stanley Kubrick’s on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
“We’ve been going for evocative frames,” Nicotero said. “That does make it harder on episodes that are huge in scale, but we’re constantly aware of what we’ve done in the past. We know that we have to up our game for the show. It’s been eight years and we don’t want people to think the show is suffering from the fatigue that comes with being on the air for eight years.”
The Walking Dead returns for its eighth season on Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.