The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead , AMC ’s longest - running scripted show , celebrate its telling milepost of reaching 100 episodes with a series of callbacks to the premier episode , " Days Gone Bye . " Initially developed by Frank Darabont , known for the critically - acclaimed film adaptations ofThe Shawshank Redemption , The Green Mile , andThe Mist , The Walking Deadbecame an overnight virtuoso for AMC , with its first instalment breaking the record for the highest - viewed cable television program . The achiever of " Day Gone Bye " led toThe Walking Deadbecoming one of AMC ’s most successful serial , with a full episode run of 177 by the fourth dimension the show ended in November 2022 .
" Mercy " not only part asThe Walking Deadseason 8 ’s untier but as the show ’s hundredth episode . WithThe walk Deadpassing the 100 - installment milestone , the first AMC script show to do so , executive producer and " Mercy " conductor Greg Nicotero wanted to abide by the show ’s origins . So here ’s every callback thatThe Walking Dead ’s centesimal episode hit to the show ’s first .
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The Walking Dead’s First Zombie Returned
The first post - opening citation scene inThe Walking Dead ’s 100th sequence is an almost shot - by - shot recreation of " Days Gone adios " ’s melancholy moth-eaten outdoors . The scene in question see Carl Grimes ( Chandler Riggs ) and his father , Rick ( Andrew Lincoln ) , scavenge for supplies at a accelerator pedal place . Carl encounters a starving humans , Siddiq ( Avi Nash ) , beg for food . Carl draws his gun and attempts to aid Siddiq until Rick intervenes with a warning shot , scare him aside .
The " Mercy " scene play many shaft fromThe Walking Dead ’s first episode . Most notably , the shot where Carl rest down under a car , carefully send his hat on the floor , and spots Siddiq ’s legs is a direct throwback to when Rick does the same at the gas pedal place in " Days Gone Bye . " However , another callback in this scene is slenderly harder to spot .
splendidly , the first walker ever seen inThe Walking Deadis a piffling girl Rick encounters at an abandon gasoline station . She run directly at him in an attempt to bite him , and Rick is squeeze to shoot her in the head . The little girl was play by actress Addy Miller , who was brought back year subsequently to play another similarly - dressed walker Rick encounters at the gas station in " Mercy . " Miller shot her scenes separately from Andrew Lincoln , who is returning toTheWalking Deadas Rick in a spinoff , as the actor is known for his Tom Holland - like power to keep enigma .
The Walking Dead’s 100th Episode Flashforwards Copied Rick’s Origin
The Walking Dead ’s 100th sequence also contained several aspect that , at the prison term , were believed to be flashforwards to the future . Despite the eventual reveal that they were , in fact , dreams of Carl ’s about a likely post - war future , " Mercy " was capable to use them to call back toThe walk Dead ’s very first installment . The " Mercy " flashforward sequence is another shot - for - dead reckoning recreation of a view in " day Gone Bye . " This clip , it cite the conniption where Rick wake up from his coma in the abandoned infirmary using the same camera placement as that tantrum fromThe Walking Dead ’s first episode .
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Another Walking Dead Premiere Actor Returned In “Mercy”
Addy Miller was not the only walker from " Days Gone Bye " to return to the show inThe Walking Dead ’s 100th instalment . Actor Joe Giles returned to the show after a 99 - sequence - long absence to play another walker . InThe Walking Dead ’s first episode , Giles played the Zimmer frame that follow Rick down the street , wear out a purple shirt , after clambering out of a bus . Giles ' Zimmer frame inThe Walking Dead ’s 100th episode take a leak up for his deficiency of fashion sense with some truly wicked gore : grisly burned make-up covers the side of his face and torso , hinting towards a frightful destruction for the once - man .
The Walking Dead’s 100th Episode Ending Parallels The Premiere
One of the final setting in " Mercy " directly pays court to the final , iconic shot ofThe Walking Dead ’s premiere episode . At the end of the episode , with a horde of walkers closing in on the Sanctuary , Gabriel ( Seth Gilliam ) is force to find shelter in a trailer . This duplicate the closing import of " Days Gone adieu " when Rick is force to hide in a tank from a different host of zombie while they junket on his horse . Both scene emphasize the risk their central case are in with a camera placed overhead , displaying the vast telephone number of walkers fence them .
To further tie the two episodes ofThe Walking Deadtogether , both scene end with a surprisal reveal . " day Gone Bye " has Rick get wind Glenn ’s ( Steven Yeun ) voice over the tank radio . In stark contrast to the queer tone of the final moments ofThe Walking Dead ’s premiere episode , " Mercy , " Gabriel realizes that he is beat in the trailer with Glenn ’s killer whale , thestill - evil Negan ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) . In jubilation of passing the major 100 - episode milestone , The Walking Dead ’s season 8 unfastener was full of Easter eggs referencing the show ’s first episode .
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