The Walking Dead made big headlines back in April when the Season 6 finale ended on a huge cliffhanger with new bad guy Negan beating one of the good guys to death with a baseball bat. By the time the show returns to the airwaves on October 23, fans will have had almost seven whole months to speculate about who died that horrific death. According to Walking Dead executive producer Greg Nicotero, however, the big death isn't even the most horrifying twist in the premiere. Nicotero said this on Geeking Out about the Season 7 opener:
There's so much more that happens in that episode that is more heartbreaking than that moment, that by the time the episode's over it's almost too much. It's that intense. It just keeps getting worse. It goes lower and lower and lower and lower.
Well, that's terrifying. Greg Nicotero already explained that filming the big death scene resulted in two of the most difficult weeks of his life, so it's been hard to imagine that anything else in the premiere could possibly be more awful. At least one character who has managed to survive horde after horde of zombies is going to be brutally murdered by a man with a baseball bat. Depending on which character is the one to die, it could be one of the survivors we've been watching since almost the very beginning of the series. We know plenty of heartbreak is on the way, but it looks as if that heartbreak won't stop at Lucille.
The question now is: What could Negan or others on the show possibly do at 9 p.m. on AMC that is worse than beating somebody to death? The episode could take Negan to Alexandria and introduce him to a bunch of the people that most of us haven't been worried about over hiatus. Everybody outside of the clearing felt somewhat safe; it could certainly be heartbreaking if Negan goes on a rampage against the folks back in Alexandria.
Of course, Negan may not even need to get much more violent after the big death scene. Norman Reedus has hinted that fear will actually be Negan's greatest weapon against the good guys, and Andrew Lincoln has shared that Rick will feel absolutely powerless because of what Negan has done. The characters' reactions to the death could be enough to make the episode feel even worse.
Personally, Greg Nicotero's tease on AMC's Geeking Out makes me more nervous than ever about what's in store for poor pregnant Maggie. I've had my doubts that she would be the person killed in the opening scene, but she looked pretty terrible. I wouldn't be shocked if one of the events that takes the episode lower and lower is a miscarriage from Maggie, especially if Glenn is the one to bite the dust. What could be more of a downer than Maggie losing Glenn's child right after Glenn is killed? I'm sad just thinking about it.
Luckily - or perhaps unluckily, considering that we might hate the premiere - the wait for Season 7 is almost over. Rick and Co. will be back on AMC on Sunday, October 23 at 9 p.m. ET. Check out our ranking of who might have been killed by Negan, and don't forget to take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule.
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