the walking dead

However frightening the new Walking Dead big bad might seem with this trusty bat Lucille, Negan’s weaponry has a serious upgrade in the latest look at Season 7. See for yourself, along with a possible glimpse at the character’s new look in the latest Season 7 photos.

Will characters from The Walking Dead Season 6 and prior appear in Season 7? You betcha! Will at least one of them die in the premiere? Probably! You might not know it from the first official round of Season 7 photos, however, which follow the trailer’s lead to reveal almost no one but Carol, Morgan and our new friend Ezekiel!

Long before Jeffrey Dean Morgan picked up the bat as The Walking Dead’s Negan, we knew AMC would reign in the foul-mouthed character’s language, occasionally allowing for alternate takes. Now, Morgan himself reveals that Season 7 makes regular use of “F-takes” to accommodate the character’s more colorful swears, but will we ever see them?

We’ve wondered for months how The Walking Dead might handle a Season 7 trailer without spoiling the big revelation of Negan’s victim, and Comic-Con 2016 finally gave us the answer. It’s a brave and deadly new world for Rick’s group, with the full Season 7 trailer confirming some fierce new additions.

It’s still unclear how exactly The Walking Dead intends to keep Negan’s victim a secret through months of trailers and set photos into the October premiere, but even then, Season 7 may not deliver its key revelation right away. Executive producer Greg Nicotero teases a unique structure to the premiere, which itself will be smaller in scale than Season 6.

If perhaps you worried that The Walking Dead Season 7 promotional tour might remain as mercilessly teasing as the finale itself, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. In addition to the first, familiar-seeming photo, the official Comic-Con 2016 key art for Season 7 teases … well, another very familiar sight.

Apart from the Season 6 cliffhanger itself, The Walking Dead raises significant questions as to how Season 7 might release trailers and photos without spoiling Negan’s victim. We may have a frustrating first answer, as the first official photo from the new season looks a trifle familiar. Batter up!

It’s no secret that The Walking Dead had its work cut out to keep its big Season 6 death under wraps, awkwardly positioning the cliffhanger as something spoiler-hounds could easily sniff out in Season 7 production. We’d heard of at least some precautions taken to keep the victim a secret, but it seems The Walking Dead is sparing no expense, shooting death scenes for every single character involved.

Long before The Walking Dead confirmed Negan to arrive with the Season 6 finale, fans touted suggestion after suggestion of actors perfectly suited to the bombastic role. Chief among them, perhaps, was music icon Henry Rollins, on whom Negan’s comic likeness was actually based, who now admits he’d actually auditioned for the role that Jeffrey Dean Morgan ultimately claimed.

Season 7 of The Walking Dead has some pretty immediate questions to answer for fans, but will otherwise introduce brave new worlds and characters to explore after the bat. We know at least one major character (and his iconic pet) to pop up, but how might The Walking Dead realize such a complicated, outlandish figure?

Death on a genre series is increasingly difficult to accept these days, something The Walking Dead learned the hard way in Season 6 when fans easily deduced Glenn’s survival from an apparently-grisly demise. That super fan-sleuthing again reared its head with the Season 6 finale, but series star Lauren Cohan says viewers may be wasting their time picking apart the audio of Negan’s now-famous kill.

The Walking Dead has more mysteries to address in Season 7 than who fell under Negan’s bat “Lucille,” namely those mysterious armored friends encountered by Morgan and Carol. Comic fans likely know their identity, though the series itself may have leaked two fan-favorite additions for Season 7, who might roar our as early as the trailer.