With the mid-season premiere ofThe Walking Deadjust 10 days away, AMC has released a new extended preview with showrunnerScott M. Gimple, executive producerGale Anne Hurd, and cast members such asDanai Gurira,Josh McDermitt,Sonequa Martin-Green,Jeffrey Dean Morgan,Alanna MastersonandAndrew Lincoln. This three-minute extended video sheds some light on the brutal first half of the season, and teases how Rick and his group at Alexandria will try to turn the tables on Negan and his group of Saviors. If you aren’t caught up with the series, there will be SPOILERS below, so read on at your own risk.
The video debuted onAMC.comtoday, whereScott M. Gimplereveals that the first half of the season focused on how both the characters and the audience “moved forward from an incredible trauma.” That trauma, of course, was the brutal murder of two beloved characters,Steven Yeun’s Glenn andMichael Cudlitz’s Abraham.Gale Anne Hurdteased that it will take the group a long time to recover from this trauma, butSonequa Martin-Greenadds that the group has to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward. We also hear fromAndrew Lincoln, who reveals that Rick initially thinks compliance with Negan is the best way to ensure his group’s survival, but he eventually realizes that this is an ‘untenable situation’.
Scott M. Gimplealso reveals that, by the end of the first half ofThe Walking Dead Season 7, the whole group is finally ready to take on this threat together, now that they are all on the same page. The last minute of this three-minute video includes some bits and pieces of new footage from the back half of this season, along withJeffrey Dean Morgan, who teases that this season just keeps getting crazier, whileScott M. Gimpleexplains that Rick’s group has some massive obstacles in front of them. If this new extended video wasn’t enough, we also have some news fromRobert Kirkman, who says that there will actually be less death in subsequent issues of his comics.
At the end of every comic book issue,Robert Kirkmanaddresses fans in a section called “Letter Hacks”. In the 163rd issue, which went on sale yesterday, the writer revealed that, at this point in the comic book’s story, there should be far less death, because none of the characters who have survived up until this point, will be killed off very easily. Here’s what he had to say in part of his Letter Hacks section.
“In my opinion, there should be less death in the book now, much less, because the careless people, the scared people, the people learning how to live in this world are already dead. This is the cream of the crop, so to speak. So, yes, there can be a conflict like the Whisperer War, and there can be very little death. You thinkMichonneis going to just let herself get bitten by a zombie or stabbed by a Whisperer at this point? It wouldn’t be believable! Rick, Andrea, Carl, Jesus, Dwight, Negan, Maggie, these people are tempered steel! That’s not to say they’re invulnerable, or ‘safe’ now but it would take a lot to kill them.”
The first half of Season 7 saw Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group broken by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), forced to fall under his will and brutally convinced to live under his rules. The second half of the season will focus on preparing for war and gathering the supplies and numbers to take Negan down once and for all. Rick’s group will find out yet again that the world isn’t what they thought it was. It’s much bigger than anything they’ve seen so far. While they have a singular purpose, to defeat Negan, it won’t come easy. More importantly, victory will require more than Alexandria.
They need the numbers of the Kingdom and the Hilltop, but, similar to how Rick felt, Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Gregory (Xander Berkeley) do not want bloodshed. To convince them otherwise will take more than speeches. The lengths Rick and the group will have to go to to find weapons, food and new fighters is nothing short of remarkable. We’ll meet new survivors in incredible places. We’ll see Rick and the group tested in ways we’ve never seen before. We’ll see treachery from people we trust. Rick is confident as he will see his group and many others band together with the common goal of taking down Negan. But no amount of planning will prepare the group for all-out war with Negan and his army. Take a look at this extended preview forThe Walking Dead, which kicks off the back half of Season 7 on Sunday, February 12 at 9 PM ET on AMC.
