The Walking Dead looks to be coming back with a bang later this year, as we have just been promised an action-packed affair for the season eight premiere.

The first episode back is also the 100th episode overall (coincidentally), and co-executive producer Denise Huth promised fans that it will be "worth the wait".

"It's a tonne of action," Huth teased to Entertainment Weekly. "It's super exciting.

AMC

"I think it will be really, really satisfying. As a fan of the show – and I am a fan of the show – when I read it, it was like, 'Awww, I can't wait! It's going to be great!'

"It's worth the wait to get to this moment."

Indeed. If this spoilery picture from behind the scenes says what we think it says, it seems like a lot will be going down.

AMC

Related: What's next for The Walking Dead? Here's how season 8 could go down

Huth added that season eight will have a hugely different vibe to the doom and gloom in season seven.

"It's like night and day compared to how we had to start last year," she said. "[The actors] all came back so super excited, and it's a big year.

"These episodes are coming in huge. It's a lot of work. It's just as hard as it's ever been, if not harder.

AMC

"There's just a sense of excitement, because the characters aren't in that dark, down place."

Meanwhile, showrunner Scott Gimple has promised that the series will stop doing those single-arc episodes.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC in the US and Fox in the UK later this year.

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