The show may be on hiatus, but news for it certainly isn’t.

Today, Variety confirmed that The Walking Dead has promoted three actors to series regulars for the upcoming season eight. Since it is a series revolving around death and mayhem, a fair amount of characters made their exit from the show this year, including Sonequa Martin-Green, Michael Cudlitz, and Steven Yeun.

In their stead, Steve Ogg, Pollyanna McIntosh, and Katelyn Nacon will take up the mantle as series regulars. Each actor/actress, incidentally, fulfills a different part of the rounded Walking Dead universe. Ogg will provide extra support to the villainous Negan with his role as Simon; McIntosh will explore more territory as Jadis, the leader of the scavengers; and Nacon will continue her role as Enid, a resident of Alexandria.

Although the season seven premiere was just a few weeks ago, it’s clear where the eighth season is headed. Rick and his crew will continue the ongoing war against The Saviors, and The Walking Dead‘s showrunner (Scott Gimple) says that our protagonists will have to struggle to keep their burgeoning community from erupting.

Simple was quoted as saying, “It’s essentially for the whole world as far as their experience. It isn’t just their little corner. It’s the Kingdom and the Hilltop too. The Governor just wanted them dead. Negan would be happy if everyone was alive and well and working for him. There’s a very basic political idea at play here. They want to live in a fair world instead of having it just be Negan’s. To that end, that idea feels to me like the beginning of civilization is at stake, this new civilization they want to build rather than live this strange half-life serving a despot.”