The Walking Dead returned on Sunday with episode two, but with another time jump of a month. This season seems to be picking up the pace while a lot is happening to Rick and the gang.
Showrunner Angela Kang wants the reality of time to play out in front of our eyes. “The Walking Dead in general often deals with the idea of time, and losing the time we have,” she tells THR. “Particularly this season, there are stories we’re playing with about the ways in which time heals wounds, or makes them worse; the ways in which as time moves on, the world becomes harder to navigate. We really wanted to play with the expected storytelling structure we have. We’re usually tied into a pretty tight timeline. A lot of times, eight episodes will span what feels like half a day. That’s definitely one of the things we’ll see throughout the season, the idea of how time passage affects the story.”
Norman Reedus who plays fan favorite Daryl is just one of the many characters who is affected while going through the time jumps. Reedus knows that these are necessary changes that should not be dragged on as they previously have. “It was generally two stories the last three seasons,” says Norman Reedus, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. “You were either in team A or team B, and it was just [about tracking Rick and Negan’s armies] for three seasons. It was a good idea, and I think it really worked, but you couldn’t do that a fourth season.”
As we grow closer to Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) demise, there are no confirmed plans on another time jump. However, Kang states “that’s definitely a possibility.”
It is refreshing to see these stories play out at this pace as it makes for some interesting storylines, twists, and character development.