The Walking Dead boss explains impact of falling satellite as season 10 kicks off in outer space
THE Walking Dead made its long-awaited return on Monday night, kicking off with a scene of intergalactic proportions.
Fans of the AMC zombie drama were no doubt left stunned by the show’s uncharacteristic shots of space, an area that has never been touched on before.
Episode 1, titled Lines We Cross, began with a shot of planet Earth, which was interrupted by a USSR satellite plummeting out of orbit.
Show runner Angela Kang explained how the satellite served as a symbol for the downfall of modern society and all its technological breakthroughs.
“It actually, weirdly, started with conversations about ships and ghost ships, and like these ideas of things that are drifting around on the ocean,” she said at New York Comic Con.
“We were trying to think of, ‘What are things that happen over time in an apocalypse that we haven’t explored on the show yet?’
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“And so somebody brought up this idea of like, ‘Well satellites, like if they’re not maintained, they degrade and eventually fall out of orbit,’” she went on.
“It even happens in our world now, but it’s not as common because they’re being maintained.”
Fans will know that roughly a decade has passed since the initial outbreak of the virus, meaning that most advanced technology won’t have been serviced in that time and has fallen to rack and ruin.
However, Maggie Rhee, whose comeback was recently confirmed, went to study sustainable agriculture and energy after moving to Georgie’s community with her son Herschel Jr.
It seems like she’ll be returning with her finding just as the allied communities’ tension with The Whisperers boil over.
Since the brutal mass murder the group carried out in a bloody display to mark their turf, an icy stalemate has taken hold.
Kang explained how the satellite also mirrors the imminent clash as Alexandria and The Kingdom finally take their revenge.
“Thematically, we wanted to kind of talk about a war that felt like it had Cold War aspects and the Whisperers like always watching our people, and so a satellite felt like a good metaphor for that,” she continued.
“But we also just thought that that was a fun and, hopefully, a strange and exciting way to start the season and, you know, the satellite has other implications for the season going forward as well.”
Could we see the satellite landing in range of the series regulars? Only time will tell…
The Walking Dead airs Mondays on FOX at 9pm.