By Brent McKnight | 8 years ago

There has been a lot of news coming out about season three of AMC’s zombie hit The Walking Dead. We’ve seen previews, photos, features, videos, interviews, and all manner of other material. One thing it lacked, however, was an actual official start date. That’s changed now, and the undead drama will return to TV screens on Sunday, October 14th.

The Walking Dead is all up Comic Con’s business right now in San Diego. Producers, writers, creators, stars, all of them are wandering around, appearing on panels, interacting with fans. In addition to the kick off date for the next stage in the adventure of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and company, there is also has a brand new season three trailer.

This isn’t some quick tease with just enough footage to pique your interest. No, this is a good, long look at the next season of The Walking Dead, something to sink your teeth into. You get to see more of incoming badass Michonne (Dinai Guria), who appeared in a clip earlier this week. There is also the first film of The Governor (David Morrissey), who is set to be an antagonistic force in season three. Both of these characters arriving on screen is sure to stir up all sorts of shit, as fans of Robert Kirkman’s comic books know.

And no sneak peek of The Walking Dead season three would be complete without a visit from our old buddy Merle (Michael Rooker). He’s popped up in behind the scenes photos, but here he is in the flesh, looking slimy, conniving, and dangerous as ever. Merle’s resurrection is going to play hell with Daryl (Norman Reedus), and we’ll have to wait and see where his loyalties lie, with family or with the group.

These three dollops would be enough for any other trailer to have done its job, but there is even more information packed into these four minutes. We get a good look at the prison, inside and out; it looks like they’re upping the zombie factor a few degrees (always a good idea); and the slogan “Fight the Dead. Fear the Living” reminds us, even in a world full of monsters, where the real danger lies.

In two seasons The Walking Dead has shown glimpses of greatness, little blips of the potential it has. Among its many problems, the biggest has always been wild inconsistency. Hopefully this trailer is an indication of things to come, and the show can finally settle into a nice groove and be counted on to be reliably good. I, for one, am sick of thinking, “wow, this episode was solid. Too bad last week sucked. I wonder what next week will bring?”