The Walking Dead is headed back to our screens for its ninth – count 'em – season of zombie madness in a little less than two months, and new images from the show's next eight-episode run are offering hints to what we can expect.
While this half-season storyline is going to be providing closure for Andrew Lincoln's time as Rick Grimes (though the producers are naturally still tight-lipped as to how he exits the show), he's still a presence in the pictures, as his time battling the undead and figuring out problems in the post-apocalyptic world is not over yet.
There's also a peek at the lives of the characters as they exist after a months-long time jump, where we catch up with them as they try to build the various communities into something resembling the launch pad for a potential new society, or whatever that will mean going forward. And some people are doing better than others, such as Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier, seen here in the midst of a romance with Ezekiel (Khary Payton).
And though the show takes place in a post-Negan world, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's chatty wannabe dictator is still around, locked in a prison cell and going through his own struggles. Plus, the remnants of his Saviors group are still looking to find a new way after he spectacularly failed to lead them to victory, with another image showing some of our regulars, including Josh McDermitt's Eugene Porter, Carol and others in the Sanctuary base.
Finally, there will be the issue of what happens with Lauren Cohan's Maggie Rhee, who has clearly given birth to the baby she was carrying and seemed set in the last episode of Season 8 to enter a moral conflict with Rick over Negan's fate. Given Cohan's commitment to another show (after a prolonged contract negotiation with US network AMC), it remains to be seen how her story plays out.
Of course, this being The Walking Dead, the peace and harmony can't last (lest the show becomes a comforting family drama with extra walkers), and the threats from both the dead and the living will still continue to haunt the survivors. The show will be back on US screens on 7 October, and will kick off again over here at 9pm via Fox on 8 October.
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