AMC's The Walking Dead lost several characters over the course of its seventh season, which just wrapped up earlier this month, so that means there's room for a few of the surviving characters to step up and get some more screen time next season.
TVLine has learned, and other sources have since confirmed, that three of The Walking Dead's returning cast members are being promoted to "series regular" status in the upcoming season eight. Those actors are Katelyn Nacon, who plays teenage Alexandria/Hilltop resident Enid; Steven Ogg (pictured above), who serves as right hand man to the villainous Negan and is very much like his leader; and Pollyanna McIntosh (below), whose character Jadis leads the quirky and unscrupulous group of junkyard dwellers who are offically called the Scavengers, but I prefer to call them the Garbage Pail Kids.
Being promoted to series regulars doesn't mean that these characters will be in every episode of the upcoming season, but it does guarantee the actors that they'll be needed on set quite often throughout the filming of the season.
For the sake of comparison, there were four actors promoted to series regulars for season seven. They were Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, who definitely had a whole lot to do during the season; Austin Amelio as Negan's troubled sidekick Dwight, who we got to know rather well over; Tom Payne as Hilltop resident Jesus, and Xander Berkeley as Hilltop leader Gregory – and while those last two were frequently seen in episodes, it still didn't feel like they ever took center stage in the way Negan and Dwight did at times.
I've never cared about Enid one way or the other, so I have very little reaction to the news that she'll be around more often in season eight. Maybe they'll manage to make me care about her at some point during the season. Since most of the other communities are now officially at war with Negan's Saviors, it makes sense that we'll see more of Simon, and this is the promotion I'm most pleased about, since I find Ogg's performance to be enjoyably slimy. I'm not so pleased to hear that we'll be seeing more of Jadis, because I really can't stand the Garbage Pail Kids.
In addition to Nacon, Ogg, McIntosh, Morgan, Amelio, Payne, and Berkeley, other returning cast members will include Andrew Lincoln as Rick, Chandler Riggs as Carl, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Norman Reedus as Daryl, Josh McDermitt as Eugene, Lauren Cohan as Maggie, Melissa McBride as Carol, Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel, Alanna Masterson as Tara, Lennie James as Morgan, Christian Serratos as Rosita, Ross Marquand as Aaron, and Khary Payton as King Ezekiel.
Season eight of The Walking Dead will begin airing on AMC this fall.