It was the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Upon lining up our ragtag crew, Jeffery Dean Morgan’s sneering baddie Negan prepared to strike a killing blow to either Rick or one of his hapless survivors. Then, the screen cut to black, and viewers of The Walking Dead were left pouring over the sixth season in the hope of answers.
Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel; season 7 will shuffle onto AMC in early October and make no mistake, the show’s director Greg Nicotero teased that the new batch of episodes won’t waste any time in dolling out the answers.
Until then, expect Negan and his terrifying weapon of choice, Lucille, to feature heavily across the show’s marketing campaign, and sure enough, today’s fresh batch of The Walking Dead character posters find out heroes at the mercy of that gnarly baseball bat.
When quizzed about Negan’s twisted sense of entertainment, Nicotero revealed:
“Negan is that kind of guy. He’s the kind of guy who imagines himself on stage at a high school production and he loves every second of it. So, I don’t really see a lot of quiet contemplative moments with Negan. I feel like with Negan it’s really going to be about him gesticulating and him sort of relishing in the sound of his own voice while he commands the stage in front of whoever’s alive.”
The Walking Dead returns with season 7 – and a hoard of answers – on October 7. Before that, those still on tenterhooks from that nerve-shredding finale ought to keep their peepers peeled for The Walking Dead panel at San Diego Comic-Con – booked in to occupy Hall H on Friday, July 22 at 1 p.m. PT – where we fully expect to lay eyes on the first trailer for AMC’s new season.