The Walking Dead releases final season premiere date and teaser

As The Walking Dead was wrapping up its extended season 10 with the long-awaited "Here's Negan" adaptation, AMC dropped a surprise juicy tidbit for fans in the form of the first teaser for season 11, as well as the official premiere date for the zombie drama's final season.

Season 11 will premiere Aug. 22 with a batch of eight new episodes. That will leave 16 more episodes in the 24-episode final season to be released in two more batches of eight, most likely in winter/spring of 2022 and summer/fall of 2022. The Aug. 22 premiere date is considerably earlier than the usual mid-to-late October premiere dates for TWD season premieres, but with two other scripted franchise shows (Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond) also in production, it's easier for AMC to shift dates as necessary.

In the teaser, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) is being addressed by an authoritative voice asking questions such as "Why are you here?" "Do you consider yourself fundamentally an honest person?" and "Have you ever been vaccinated for the measles?" as images of an interrogation room, ice cream, cake, a courtroom, and a graffitied subway with "If there is a God he will have to beg for my forgiveness" scrawled on the wall.

We also see an image of red armor in a locker — most likely the same red armor worn in the comic by Commonwealth Military leader Mercer (to be played by Michael James Shaw). All signs point to the Commonwealth being the group that Eugene and company went to meet and were ambushed by at the train yard in season 10, and the teaser confirms that the community will be a major story line on the final season of the show.

"Coming off of the six additional episodes for season 10, which focused on smaller, character-driven stories, we're excited to kick off season 11 bigger than ever," showrunner Angela Kang said in a statement. "The stakes will be high — we'll see more zombies, tons of action, intriguing new stories, never-before-seen locations and our groups together in one community for the first time, trying to rebuild what the Whisperers took from them."

The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple weighed in as well: "The final chapter of The Walking Dead begins with eight action-packed episodes that will feature the massive scope and scale fans have come to expect from TWD Universe, and I'm thrilled to share that fans won't have to wait long for these incredible new episodes to debut this summer."

While season 11 will be the end of the original series, a Daryl and Carol spin-off with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride will follow the conclusion of the mothership, while an anthology series titled Tales of the Walking Dead is also in the works.

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