Walkers Are Coming: 'The Walking Dead' Gets 'Game Of Thrones' Poster For Season 8

We have all heard the rumors that Breaking Bad's Walter White sells his azure meth to those hillbilly Dixon brothers on #TheWalkingDead, but should the shared universes stop there? There are some crossovers that would be just too good to be true, while seeing AMC and HBO team dragons with zombies would be one hell of an epic spectacle to behold.

As Season 7 of #GameofThrones winds to a close and we will presumably see the frozen zombies of Westeros take on Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, surely showrunner David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be looking to #ScottGimple's shuffling apocalypse for tips on the perfect #zombie? Well, it is a case of share and share alike, because in anticipation of its eighth season, TWD has taken a leaf out of #GeorgeRRMartin's book to craft its very own winter-inspired promo poster.

Snow Joke

We see #AndrewLincoln's Rick given the White Walker treatment, just like the Thrones alumni have gotten ahead of Season 7. Whereas HBO went with the tagline, "Winter Is Here," AMC amped up the hype for their own war-torn season. While the hot sun of Georgia normally bakes Rick Grimes and co., don't expect a years-long winter to be coming to #RobertKirkman's world anytime soon, however, it is great to see The Walking Dead having some fun with itself.

Speaking of winter, executive producer Greg Nicotero spoke to ComicBook.com at this year's Walker Stalker Cruise, and teased the possibility of pulling a Thrones and bringing a colder climate to the show:

"I don't know how we would pull it off. I would love to do it. I know Scott [Gimple] would love to do it. The show is 52 weeks a year. To literally generate an in-between script and shoot in the winter, I don't know how we would be able to pull it off even though I think it would be great. I think everybody would love to do it because it would be different. I would never wanna rule it out, but it's tough because that would mean that in the middle of finishing episodes to air, we'd have to be writing another episode. Then you'd have to bring everybody back for a standalone which would be, probably, expensive."

While that sounds like a big ol' nope, I definitely think Rick could use a rest from all those sweat patches!

It's Chill Or Be Chilled

Speaking of our grizzled leader, it is interesting that the poster has Lincoln's character pastiched as a White Walker. Since the Night King is the de facto villain of Game of Thrones, Rick taking his place in the poster does suggest he isn't quite the white knight we all assumed he was. There has been a hot debate for some time that Rick's leadership skills have actually put him on a steady road to darkness. In fact, even the showrunners confirm that Rick is probably just one baseball bat away from becoming the sadistic Negan.

Just as Game of Thrones has pitting the living (there aren't many left on the show) against the dead, Season 8 of The Walking Dead will bring two warring sides together. However, as the show has evolved, it is the threat of humanity's remnants that are the biggest danger to our Safe Zone survivors. Don't get me wrong, gnashing undead that are hungry for your flesh are still the main part of the show, but Season 8 will follow the "All Out War" storyline from the #comicbook and force Rick and Negan to fight.

The poster is just another in a long line of The Walking Dead taking itself far less seriously than its actual script. Sure, the show may be over the top with Merle's knife hand, a tiger bodyguard, and death by baseball practice, but TWD isn't exactly Zombieland in the comedy stakes. The show previously riffed Star Wars: The Last Jedi, spoofing the film's poster also ahead of the upcoming season. Personally, I am waiting for Gimple and co. to do a Rick and Morty crossover where Rick Grimes discovers a portal gun and takes "Cooooral" on all kinds of adventures — you heard it here first!

(Source: ComicBook.com)