Fans went wild after The Walking Dead‘s season 8 trailer, first released at Comic-Con, dropped an unexpected twist in its final moments. Dubbed the “Old Man Rick” scene, the preview ended with a glimpse at a greying, bearded, bedridden Rick, seemingly a flash-forward to some point in the character’s future.
It turns out that we weren’t the only ones surprised by the scene, as star Andrew Lincoln was also shocked when he discovered that Old Man Rick was coming to the show. He spoke about the sequence to EW during a recent interview and in doing so, potentially gave us a clue as to its meaning:
I was shocked and kind of excited by it. My instinct was, what a great storytelling device. That was my instinct. I thought it was very interesting, and also gives us an opportunity to do something else a little ahead of the game, which I think is very, very neat.”
Lincoln then went on to tease when we should expect some clarification of what the scene means. As per previous comments from The Walking Dead cast and crew members, the actor promised that it would be referenced in the season 8 premiere.
