The Walking Dead season 8: release date, trailer, spoilers, cast, plot, photos, episode titles - everything we know

The countdown to a new season of The Walking Dead never truly stops, but excitement for season eight has officially clicked into the gear.

While season seven didn't end on the biggest cliffhanger in TV history (here's looking at you, season six), there's still plenty to discuss before the premiere episode - the series' 100th ever - rolls around.

To help you out, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of everything we know so far about the upcoming season, from story speculation to air dates and how to watch.

There is also a SPOILERS section clearly marked MAJOR SPOILERS. Don't read below that unless you want to have certain elements from the show ruined.

Release date and how to watch

The Walking Dead season eight's confirmed air date is 22 October in the US on AMC with the UK premiere arriving the following evening (23 October) on FOX. It'll also be available to watch on NOW TV. On 20 September, it was announced by AMC that the premiere will have an extended runtime of 67 minutes.

US network AMC officially ordered an eighth season of the drama before its previous run of episodes had even begun.

Network president Charlie Collier said: "What a joy to partner with Robert Kirkman, Scott M. Gimple and some of the hardest-working people in television to bring The Walking Dead to the fans. And, most important, thanks to those fans for breathing life into this remarkable series right along with us."

The new season will begin a mere week after successful spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead - a recent episode of which seemed to confirm the long-gestating theory that TWD exists in the same universe as Breaking Bad - ends its current run.

What have we seen so far?

Two official stills have been released, one showing original characters Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) fresh from their tearful reunion last season, and the other featuring the newly-motivated Rick (Andrew Lincoln) chatting war tactics with Maggie (Lauren Cohan).

As expected, a deeper look at the forthcoming season arrived at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con in July in the form of an extended trailer which provided a larger glimpse at the war to come. Most notably, the trailer ended on a moment which had all fans speculating: an older version of Rick can be seen, hospitalised and bearing a cane, at an uncertain time in the future all but confirming season eight will feature a time jump.