It's hard to believe it's already almost been 12 months since we discovered exactly who was on the receiving end of Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) barbed wire baseball bat Lucille in the season 7 premiere of 'The Walking Dead'. The scenes were some of last year's most talked about when it comes to television, stunning the majority of those watching and even encouraging a small portion of the fan base to start up petitions and demand their favourite characters be returned to the series.

Danai Gurira's character Michonne has always been one of the most complicated in 'The Walking Dead'Danai Gurira's character Michonne has always been one of the most complicated in 'The Walking Dead'

Now though, the death of those characters seems to finally be in the past (at least for those watching), as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his fellow survivors have found others living under the tyrannical rule of Negan and his band of 'Saviors', all of whom are ready to fight back.

With fan-favourite comic book arc 'All Out War' set to debut in the show's upcoming eighth season, there's a lot of excitement and built expectation surrounding everything we'll be seeing over the next few months. As bits of information surrounding the new season begins to creep out, it becomes clearer that the experience this time round is going to be wholly different to what we've seen in the past.

Opening up a little about what viewers should expect from the new batch of episodes, Michonne actress Danai Gurira told EW: "It is a deeply different season premiere - deeply, deeply different and unpredictable... That’s what’s amazing about the writers of the show, is that they don’t tread the same ground. So you can’t be prepared for it. If you thought, ‘Well, I’ve seen this, I’ve seen that, so I can be prepared for what’s coming next’ – no, you can’t. You won’t be prepared."

She added: "We’ve all been knocked clear off our feet, and there’s just so many ways everybody’s story is expanded and deepened and sharpened. And the clashes that we’re in take turns no one’s going to expect. And at the same time, it remains palpably human, you know?"

Moving forward in 'The Walking Dead', writers and those working behind-the-scenes are going to have to work harder than ever before to maintain audience interest. Viewing figures did take a sharp plummet during season 7, but with the famous 'All Out War' story coming up, we imagine that they could return to give season 8 a chance when it makes its broadcasting debut.

Despite the lower numbers, the show is still one of television's most successful, and we imagine it'll rumble on for as long as those working on it want it to carry on for.

More: Norman Reedus Teases Daryl Going "Rogue" In 'The Walking Dead' Season 8

'The Walking Dead' season 8 hits AMC in the US on Sunday, October 22 and FOX in the UK on Monday, October 23.