What is Going on in This New Walking Dead Promo?

What do a helicopter, Washington D.C., and The Walking Dead have in common? We are not sure yet after checking out this new promo image for the upcoming 9th season of the AMC series. Ahead of the show's panel at the San Diego Comic-Con later this month, which will now be moderated by Yvette Nicole Brown, the official social media pages for the series have been updated with its first preview image and we have some questions.

Rick is clearly still front and center here, despite his imminent-but-unannounced exit from the series approaching, and a handful of our main characters are standing in front of the U.S. capitol building in ruins, indicating that they may be traveling to Washington D.C. at some point next season. Rick looks older, perhaps too old if the time jump is only a couple of years, leaving us to wonder just how far ahead some of the season 9 scenes might take us. That helicopter we saw last season is back as well.

There are quite a few possibilities here, such as the story taking a number of our characters on the road once again, perhaps very far from their now-liberated homes. Maggie has no baby bump either, so we at least know that a modest amount of time has passed. Daryl, Carol, and Michonne look pretty unchanged, all things considered. Could we also be seeing a number of scenes even farther in the future than expected? This is perhaps one of the few possibilities that might make a Rick death make more sense in the context of the overall story.

After a cryptic tweet from earlier in the week urged fans not to believe everything they hear, it's obvious that this could be a reference to what may become of Rick or which direction the story might be going. Is it possible that Andrew Lincoln might not be leaving the show at all? With filming on The Walking Dead season 9 still on-going and Lincoln arriving back in London, it does not seem all that likely. All things considered, we are not sure what to make of these hints yet.

The most likely place for some of these questions to be answered is at the San Diego Comic-Con, which runs from July 19th to 22nd. We will be eagerly awaiting what is announced at the Hall H panel for the series so we could make sense of just what in store for us when The Walking Dead returns later this year.

About the Author

Chris Morse

Programmer by day, writer by night. Having grown up surrounded by plenty of horror movies and video games, it only made sense for Chris to combine all of these passions into one place: Dead Entertainment. Whether he's working on designs, tinkering with the platform, or just writing up the latest horror news, he's sure to be hard at work keeping the wheels turning on this website no matter what time of day it is. When not coding or gaming, you can find him donning a Cheesehead and heading to the Midwest to cheer on his favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers. #GoPackGo

More Reading

Weekly Horror News Round-Up November 7: The Walking Dead, Friday the 13th: The Game, Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Plus, Hulu pulls the plug on Castle Rock, the Resident Evil film reboot adds to its cast, Demon's Souls get a fancy character creator, and more.

Weekly Horror News Round-Up October 17: Friday the 13th, The Walking Dead, Day of the Dead

Plus, I Know What You Did Last Summer gets the green light, You adds to its Season 3 cast, and more.

Weekly Horror News Round-Up September 12: The Walking Dead, Candyman, Books of Blood

Plus, Scream 5 adds to its cast, get Freaky in a new trailer from Blumhouse, the original Friday the 13th is remastered to return to theaters, and more.

The Walking Dead Ending is the Most Exciting Thing About the Show Since It Began

Amidst cast and character attrition, AMC has made the smart move in opting to gracefully end the flagship show at a time that will make sense to the story.