The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira Says "You Won't Be Prepared" for Season 8

The Walking Dead's seventh season opened on an extremely violent note which set the tone for a dark season. But following the big showdown between the Alexandrians, Saviors, Kingdom members, and the garbage crew, things are going to take a different tone in the new season.

Actress Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne, revealed as much to Entertainment Weekly when she said, "We don't tend to tread the same ground twice. It is a deeply different season premiere -- deeply, deeply different and unpredictable and very, very rich in the story that's being told and powerfully acted and all of that."

The Walking Dead Season 8 is expected to set up a fight for not just survival, but the right to thrive -- at least as much as one can in such an apocalyptic atmosphere.

As Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) phrases it in the recent trailer, "The world is ours... by right."

According to Gurira, the new season will be so different that it should defy expectations. She told EW, "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. It's like nothing before. 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?"

As for whether that means Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)'s trusty Lucille will be retired for good, well, that remains to be seen.

The Walking Dead returns for Season 8 on Oct. 22 at 9/8c on AMC.