Last series’ The Walking Dead provided the cliffhanger to end them all as – SPOILER – all of your favourite characters lined up to face uber-git Negan. We have to wait until Monday to find out exactly what happens next, but a new trailer could give us some clues into who ended up taking the barbed-wire bat to the face – and according to Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, that could be more than one person. As he said recently, “Negan’s not just going to kill one person in [the premiere]. He’s not afraid of bashing in skulls.”
In the new clip, which you can see above, Negan has just killed one of Rick’s crew and the blood is on the right-hand side of Rick’s face. To Rick’s immediate right in the cliffhanger scene from season six were Maggie, then Abraham, then Michonne – so fans are speculating that these are the three most likely to end up in the firing line. Maggie, let’s remember, is pregnant, but we still wouldn’t put it past Negan to kill her. She’s probably the closest thing Rick has to a “right-hand man” – something Negan viciously teases Rick about having just lost.
But then again, another recent clip suggests Daryl could have been the man to face the chop. In the clip below, it’s Daryl’s motorbike you see first, followed by a man he once spared, Dwight, riding it. Then the camera angle switches, and you see that Dwight is wearing Daryl’s winged vest top.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr8lFpIZBf8
Could it be a clue to Daryl’s death? There’s no way to be conclusive. There are other clues that Daryl could be safe, though.
The new pictures above, released around two months ago, show both Rick and Daryl on the set – so maybe it’s safe to assume that they make it through the ordeal unscathed after all. But the others? We’re still not sure…
Glenn
As we know, in the comic books Glenn is murdered by Negan. But as we also know, the show doesn’t always replicate what’s in print. Some think it’d be too obvious for it to be Glenn, but they could be going for the double bluff. Observant fans have noted that Steven Yeun, who plays Glenn, is currently shooting two films this summer (Mayhem and Okja) and with Glenn absent from the set in the new pictures – fans are facing up to the possibility that his character may have been written out of the show.
Probability: 9/10
Maggie
Maggie’s pregnancy has got us thinking… do they really want to introduce another baby into the show? Logistically, babies are a nightmare. They can’t walk, for one. But then again, would brutally murdering a pregnant woman be a step too far? Possibly not for Negan. And then there’s the fact that the blood splash in the new trailer is on the right of Rick’s face: where Maggie was kneeling in the last scene of season six.
Probability: 6/10
Aaron
Aaron barely even speaks. He’s pretty meh. If it is him, it will feel like a cop out waiting five months to find out a character you didn’t really get to know got the chop.
Probability: 3/10
Sasha
Sasha’s tough. We can imagine her “taking it like a champ” but we feel like a big boss like Negan has to be saved for a pivotal character – an original. Using Negan on Sasha feels like a bit of a waste.
Probability: 3/10
Rosita
As above, we don’t think the audience is invested enough in Rosita’s character to warrant such an epic cliffhanger. Plus – did we hear her screaming as the bat took its first swing?
Probability: 3/10
Abraham
A distinct possibility. He appeared to offer himself up for the slaughter, so perhaps Negan wouldn’t have bludgeoned him for that very reason – but some fans theorise that Abraham will react to the first kill so negatively that Negan will off him straight after.
Probability: 8/10
Eugene
Useless Eugene doesn’t need a big bad to kill him. A big baddy needs to be saved for someone tough. Somebody unexpected. We reckon Eugene is safe, for now, until he treads on a rusty nail and gets tetanus or something.
Probability: 5/10
Carl
We can but hope. Carl is annoying, maybe not quite as annoying as in season two but he’s still a pest. Unfortunately, I think he’s guaranteed a spot in season seven. As Negan says ‘If anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy’s other eye out and feed it to his father.’ He’d need an intact eye to feed. Which brings us on to…
Probability: 1/10
Rick
…Rick. He’d need a functioning mouth to eat Carl’s eye. I’m ruling Rick out. Plus we’ve just seen him on set for the new series, so he lives to fight another day.
Probability: 1/10
Michonne
All those harmonious Richonne love scenes seemed a little like the calm before the storm, didn’t they? Could season seven see our protagonist descend into full-blown madness at the loss of his beloved lady? The new episode is called ‘The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be’ [grateful to be alive]. This could be why.
Probability: 7/10
Daryl
Sniff. Would they make us think Daryl was dead, save him, just to kill him again? Quite possibly. Norman Reedus also said in a Talking Dead interview that he’d been filming a motorbike documentary. Would he have time to do that if he was still in The Walking Dead? But then again, Daryl is one of the show’s most popular characters. Fans have vowed to stop watching if he’s given the chop, but the new pictures appear to show him on set and in what looks like a prison outfit. Could he survive in the Saviors’ Sanctuary as a prisoner? If the new clip is anything to judge by, that’s probably what’s happened to him.
Probability: 2/10