The Walking Dead

You’d be forgiven to question who, if any of The Walking Dead’s main cast is in danger of dying these days, but certainly Andrew Lincoln’s Rick and Chandler Riggs’ Carl have been largely protected. That said, recent rumblings have questioned Riggs’ future with the series, for which co-star Tom Payne asserts “I think Carl is the guy at the end on the last page.”

We’ve two Walking Dead episodes left in 2016, and it looks like next week’s penultimate “Sing Me a Song” might finally break with Season 7's piecemeal approach. Not only will Negan and the Saviors return, but our first clip sees Michonne out on the road, doing her best impression of The Wire.

It’s no secret that Seasons 6 and 7 of The Walking Dead have proven more divisive than usual, between the buildup to Negan’s arrival, the months-long wait to identify his victim(s), and subsequent brutality. Season 7 hasn’t felt the same since, and according to ratings data, enough viewers have subsequently tuned out to reach a multi-season low.

Dave Chappelle practically quit show-business over the endless association with his viral Chappelle’s Show characters, to the point few presumed we’d ever see them again. Well, it seems we owe The Walking Dead’s frustrating cliffhanger a debt of gratitude, as Chappelle took his SNL hosting as a chance to revive a number of Chappelle’s Show favorites … at least to kill one off.

Even as The Walking Dead apparently locked down Negan’s victim two years ago, production still went through with its shell game of filming death scenes for each cast member. We saw glimpses of them with Sunday’s premiere, but a new leak reveals what might have been the show’s most horrific choice.

The Walking Dead has been fortunate so far to have not directly leaked the identity of Negan’s kill from the Season 6 finale. That said, process of elimination has cleared at least few names off the list, while another Season 7 star seems to hint that they too were spared the wrath of Lucille.

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.

The Walking Dead has only spent the span of a single scene with Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, leading one to wonder how Season 7 might flesh out the character after such a skull-splitting entrance. Comic fans have an idea of which character ends up spending time with the new big bad, as showrunner Scott Gimple confirms Negan will develop a “strange respect” for someone on #TeamRick.

Robert Kirkman began The Walking Dead under curiosity of life in the zombie apocalypse after most movies roll credits, but horror icon John Carpenter isn’t impressed with the creator cribbing from George Romero. The Thing and Halloween director believes The Walking Dead has been “milking” its zombie forefathers, and isn’t worth our time

Apart from its climactic end, The Walking Dead Season 6 finale used a great majority of its 90-minute runtime to shuttle Rick’s crew back and forth between Savior traps; not exactly the riveting material you’d expect an extended cut for. Yet here we are, as the full list of Walking Dead Season 6 Blu-ray features lists not only an extended cut, but also in-depth looks at Negan and some of the season’s biggest moments.

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.