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The Walking Dead: Did Robert Kirkman Spoil [SPOILER]'s Season 8 Fate?

By now, it's no mystery to The Walking Dead fans that Morgan (Lennie James) will be leaving the series at the end of its eighth season to join the fourth season of Fear the Walking Dead. One question that still remains unanswered is exactly how Morgan will be departing the series. Will Morgan die before the end of TWD's "All Out War," with FTWD serving as more of his backstory? Will Morgan make it out of Season 8 alive, leaving Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the gang to the "greener pastures" of FTWD; and thus aligning the timelines of the two series?

Surprisingly (and going against my read on the vibe coming out of TWD's New York Comic Con press conference), it looks like it might be the latter. In the letter pages of Image Comics' The Walking Dead #176 — the most recent issue of the comic book series — zombie franchise creator Robert Kirkman seemingly confirms that the end of Morgan's storyline in TWD will segue directly into the events of FTWD's Season 4: "And this half of season 8 leads directly into Fear The Walking Dead season 4, which will shake up that show in a majorly cool way. So make sure you hang around for that."

So is Kirkman saying that the end of TWD's Season 8 leads directly into FTWD's Season 4 from a storyline-timeline standpoint? That would mean that FTWD and TWD would finally have timelines that were aligned, and opens up a number of future possibilities for both shows moving forward.

Though in the interest of fairness and to play devil's advocate, there is also the possibility that Kirkman was talking about the series from a real world perspective: that the end of TWD's eighth season is close on the calendar to the start of FTWD's fourth season. Looking at the TV calendar, TWD's eighth season finale should broadcast some time close to FTWD's fourth season premiere on Sunday, April 15th. Kirkman could also choose to be a very cruel: have Morgan survive TWD's eighth season and leave; and still have FTWD be a prequel to Morgan's story. Ugh.

Bleeding Cool reached out to Kirkman's representatives but have received no comment at this time.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC for the second-half of Season 8 on Sunday, February 25th, at 9 p.m. ET.

Here's the most recent mid-season trailer for the second-half of The Walking Dead's eighth season, along with the official AMC synopsis:

All out war has had a devastating impact on every person involved. The communities themselves are fractured. Alexandria has been destroyed, the Hilltop finds themselves pinned, and the Kingdom is shattered — half of them dead, the other half controlled by the Saviors.

At the very center — Rick, having been distracted by the conflict, has just returned home to learn that Carl, who heroically shepherded the Alexandrians to safety during Negan's attack, has been bitten by a walker. Once his sole motivation in this otherwise stark existence, Rick is forced to deal with this reality. Carl has always been a beacon of hope, a symbol for the remaining thread of humanity — lessons that the survivors around him would be wise to take with them as this war surges onward.

But Rick isn't the only person who's living in peril. Aaron and Enid are in a dire situation at Oceanside — unclear if they're in friendly territory, or if they've just made new enemies. Father Gabriel will do his part in attempting to smuggle Dr. Carson safely back to the Hilltop and a pregnant Maggie is wrestling with the many moral gray areas that come with leadership during war. In a standoff with the Saviors, she must decide how to proceed with the dozens of POW lives she's currently in control of, as well as new complications that come with being a leader.

In addition to the war, Negan continues to deal with struggles within his ranks as workers, traitors, and others' thirst for power cause conflict at the Sanctuary. Having gifted the Saviors a major victory, Eugene's loyalty is repeatedly tested as new obstacles present themselves.

As all-out-war consumes us, the line between good and evil continues to blur. People fighting for what they believe in. Everybody working together for something bigger — to feel safe and have a world worth living in.

The Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan), Norman Reedus  (Daryl Dixon), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Danai Gurira (Michonne), Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier),  Lennie James (Morgan Jones), Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel Stokes), Alanna Masterson (Tara Chambler),  Khary Payton (King Ezekiel), and Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes); with Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero,  David Alpert, out-going showrunner Scott M. Gimple and franchise creator Robert Kirkman serving as executive producers.

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