The long wait for The Walking Dead Season 7 is almost over. When the show resumes — airing Mondays at 9pm on FOX and FOX HD (Virgin TV Channels 157 and 199) — we’ll get a resolution to one of the most explosive TV cliffhangers ever. Fans will finally, after months of waiting, find out which of their favourite characters will be killed off.
What exactly can you expect to see this season on The Walking Dead? Here’s everything you need to know…
Cues From the Comics
If you’re new to the show… It’s based on the Image Comics series by Robert Kirkman. The Walking Dead tells the story of the years after a zombie apocalypse and follows a group of survivors, led by Rick Grimes, who travel in search of a safe and secure home.
If you’re a fan of the comic, you’ll know that The Walking Dead season 7 adapts material from issue #100 and above, but you’d be wise not to expect anything close to a literal adaptation. As is customary on The Walking Dead, it may take some cues from the comics, but story bits will be pulled from other parts of the comic timeline, and elements ported from one character to another. For more about that, consult the Comic Timeline on walkingdead.wikia.com.
Rick vs. Negan
Season 7 picks up right where season 6 left off. The show’s new villain, Negan, leader of the Saviors, has Rick and his group on their knees, playing a deadly game of eeny, meeny, miny, moe with his beloved barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille. We know at least one of the group will meet their end — it could be Aaron, Abraham, Carl, Daryl, Eugene, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, Rosita, or Sasha — and rumour has it there could be multiple kills.
Rick begins the season a broken man. After Negan beats his victim(s) to death, Rick threatens Negan, telling him he’ll kill him someday. We’ll see if that’s paid off this season. Regardless, Rick and the survivors will be changed forever, but they’re going to keep moving forward. There’s more story to tell, and a much bigger world to introduce in The Walking Dead season 7.
A Bigger World
Producer Gale Anne Hurd says this season will expand the story beyond Rick’s group. We’ll be reunited with Carol and Morgan, who we last saw after a deadly confrontation in which Morgan saved Carol from one of the Saviors. The pair were offered help by two armour-clad strangers.
We’ll find out who those men are when Morgan and Carol are taken to The Kingdom, home to a group of survivors — familiar to comic readers — led by the benevolent King Ezekiel, a fan-favourite character with a pet tiger named Shiva.
Members of the Hilltop Colony will also play central roles this season. Gregory, leader of the group, will be getting more screen time, and we’ll see more of Jesus, too.
The Whisperers?
Finally, there’s speculation — based on a single scene in a recent promo — that another faction of survivors could show up this season: the Whisperers. In the comic, the Whisperers are known for wearing dead human flesh on their faces and bodies, in order to live undetected among the walkers.
Whatever plays out over the course of The Walking Dead season 7’s 16 episodes, showrunners promise it’s going to be thrilling — after we go through the grieving process over characters lost.
And that’s everything you need to know about The Walking Dead Season 7.
The Walking Dead airs Mondays at 9pm on FOX and FOX HD (Virgin TV Channels 157 and 199).
Watch all this and more on Virgin TV. The TV you love, brilliantly brought together. Find out more at virginmedia.com/virgintv.
