In the seventh season of 'The Walking Dead', we saw Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) arrive on the scene and make an instant impact like no other villain before him had. Wiping out two of the show's main characters in under an hour, he immediately squashed all of the hope that the survivors of the zombie apocalypse had garnered and developed over the six seasons before it, forcing his rule upon them.

Ross Marquand as Aaron in the sixth season of 'The Walking Dead'Ross Marquand as Aaron in the sixth season of 'The Walking Dead'

It was a rule that we'd soon find out he had over hundreds of survivors. Where he wasn't heard, he would simply kill and then rule with fear. Others who were arguably smarter immediately bent the knee. Negan liked to present the facade that he gave everybody a choice and in doing so, quickly became the most dangerous person the show had ever introduced.

One of the survivors that fans have grown extremely fond of is Aaron, played by Ross Marquand. In season 7 we saw him almost beaten to death by Negan's cronies when he showed even the smallest signs of rebellion, so we imagine he's got quite the score to settle moving forward.

With hopes that Aaron won't be getting beat up this year because he feels like he "reached my quota last year", Marquand spoke to EW and teased of the new season: "The first four or five episodes are kind of like little mini action films. They’re hour long action films, each one of them, and that’s just exciting for me being an action nerd because 'Die Hard' is my favourite action movie of all time and there are little moments like that throughout. There are these really sort of beautifully nuanced and realistic action moments. For me, that’s what I always like to go for. I like to go for realism interaction, and I think that we’ve struck a really good balance of the fantastical elements of the show with some really great just old school action sequences that I think are going to blow everyone away."

He also promises that having "fleshed out" both Negan's world and that of the Saviors, as well as that of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Aaron and their fellow survivors, we'll now begin to see "the result of all the terrible things that happened in season 7."

What many fans know is that the series is quickly headed towards the fan-favourite comic book story arc 'All Out War', in which Rick leads an army against the Saviors in one of the bloodiest and most tragic battles to have ever taken place in the 'TWD' universe. How that translates onto the small screen however is anybody's guess, as those working on the show haven't been shy about changing things in the past. What happened on the comic book pages may not be exactly what we see on TV, but that just makes things a whole lot more exciting.

More: 'The Walking Dead' Showrunner Teases "Consistent" Story Shifting In Season 8

'The Walking Dead' season 8 debuts in the US on AMC on October 22, before making its UK premiere on October 23 on FOX.