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Danai Gurira Says ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 8 is a “Fight Against Oppression”

Photo credit: AMC

We’ve heard a lot about season 8 of The Walking Dead so far, and with less than 7 days until the premiere, all of the pieces are coming together quite nicely. From the all-out war storyline – and the inevitable deaths that will come from it – to the fire and camaraderie we’ll see back on screen, there’s a lot on the horizon.

As the cast and crew prepare for the 100th episode and the incredible season ahead, they’ve been giving some of our favorite interviews to date. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, and we’ve fallen in love with the series for all that it is again. Season 7 was rough, to say the least, and it wasn’t just hard for the fans at home. The episodes leading up to the big fight took their toll on the cast and crew as well.

One of the most recent interviews has come from Danai Gurira and what she had to say about season 8 has definitely peaked our interest.

We saw such a powerful way to end the season, I thought, with the pain and then the triumph and the standing up together. It’s a very powerful thing when you think you’re in the clutches of oppression or tyranny and actually come together as a people and decide to stop it. And I loved how that echoes through many a thing we’ve seen — the fight against apartheid, the fight for the civil rights movement. There are so many ways you can actually parallel that to when people decide enough is enough, and they come together in unexpected ways and come up with new ways to move forward and to get rid of the oppression as a unit — the unity.

Without getting too political, Danai made a statement that a lot of people can relate to. It is powerful when people come together and decide to stand up against oppression, it’s the most powerful thing there is. While the entertainment industry should do just that – entertain – there would be many wasted opportunities if the content wasn’t made relatable to fans at home, too.

When we sit down to watch films and television, we hope to see things that make us laugh and feel inspired. We also find ourselves wanting to see something heartwrenching, empowering, downright emotionally draining, and even terrifying. We do tune into all outlets of pop culture for many reasons, and sometimes those reasons are because we need to know we aren’t the only ones feeling lost or afraid or powerless.

As we see our own lives reflected in film and television, we have an opportunity to see them in a different light, and we have a feeling that season 8 will bring us closer to the characters we know and love in new ways, and we can’t wait.

Are you as excited as we are for season 8 of The Walking Dead? Let us know.