While season 9 of The Walking Dead isn’t set to air until next month, AMC has given fans their first taste of the new season. You can watch the opening minutes of the premiere episode below.
Last season brought the culmination of “All Out War,” which pitted Rick Grimes and his group of survivors against the Saviors and their cunning leader, Negan. With Negan’s life in his hands, Rick had a character-defining choice in front of him. By making the unilateral decision to spare Negan, Rick upheld the values his late son, Carl, championed in order to build for the future, but created conflict within his group.
Now, we see our survivors a year and a half after the end of the war, rebuilding civilization under Rick’s steadfast leadership. It is a time of relative peace among the communities as they work together, looking to the past to forge the future, but the world they knew is rapidly changing as man-made structures continue to degrade, and nature takes over, changing the landscape and creating new challenges for our survivors. After a period of relative peace, the survivors will be forced to face a new threat which could tear down their new world before it can truly begin.
Related: Andrew Lincoln Might Direct The Walking Dead Season 10
Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead reigns the number one drama on television among adults 18-49 for the last six seasons. The series is executive produced by chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner Angela Kang, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero, Tom Luse and Denise Huth.
Season 9 will see the departure of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), but that won’t be the end of Lincoln’s Walking Dead story. It was confirmed earlier today that he would return to the set of the upcoming season to shadow a director with the hopes of helming an episode of season 10.
The Walking Dead season 9 premieres on October 7 on AMC.
