Photograph courtesy of AMC
(Spoilers for The Walking Dead seasons nine and 10 below!)
Last year’s ninth season of The Walking Dead introduced some dramatic changes to the long-running AMC zombie drama. As new showrunner Angela Kang took the reins from Scott Gimple, the series had to navigate the departure of stars Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan, a six-year time jump, and building up Alpha and her crew of Whisperers as perhaps the series’s most sinister foes yet. Heading into season 10, which premieres on AMC October 6, the show will have to incorporate yet another major cast member departure in Danai Gurira, who announced at this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con that the upcoming season would be her last as Michonne. (Gurira’s also not expected to appear in the Rick Grimes spin-off movies, which we also learned at Comic-Con will be theatrically released.)
Season ten will only feature a “handful” of episodes with the katana-weilding warrior and we still don’t know if Cohan will return now that her ABC series Whiskey Caviler has been canceled—Kang says they’re “working on it.” But what we do know is that the action-packed, four-minute trailer released at Comic-Con looks incredible. Kang confirms the new season will pick up a few months after season nine, and told Entertainment Weekly that the war with the Whisperers has more of a “Cold War feel” than the battle against the Saviors. Below, our notes on the preview:
- There is a lot of unexpected humor throughout—as an exasperated Gabriel tries to convince Negan and Aaron to work together, Negan quickly makes a quip about Aaron’s newest weapon—a spiked metal ball in place of his amputated left hand. Later, Daryl calls Carol his best friend and she (lovingly) mocks him for sounding like a 10-year-old and suggests they make friendship bracelets.
- Speaking of Daryl and Carol, what are they up to? The trailer features them talking about getting on the back of Daryl’s bike and heading west, never looking back, and Daryl mentions that he didn’t want Carol to “spend her whole life on a boat.” They’re certainly fleeing something, even if only temporarily.
- Here’s hoping Negan takes on a more prominent role this season, now that the ex-leader of the Saviors is no longer sitting in an Alexandria jail cell. He gets a lot of screen time in this trailer, which could suggest a larger role, but Michonne also gets plenty of trailer time and her season 10 role will be limited.
- Jekyll Island’s Driftwood Beach is back as Oceanside, where it looks like we’ll see some sort of battle (look at those spiked shields!) and a dilapidated boat filled with walkers (yikes).
- Michonne shares a surprising kiss with Ezekiel, her comic book love interest.
- She also menacingly wields Lucille at the trailer’s close. Is she going to bash someone’s head in? Is she giving it back to Negan? Is she going to bash Negan’s head in?
- Eugene is shown measuring Rosita’s newborn. Perhaps he’ll be the newest medical apprentice now that Enid is dead?
- Both Gabriel and Daryl appear in prison cells at some point. What did they do?
- Carol has the best line about Alpha: “Bitch has to die.”
- Dog is miraculously, somehow, still alive. Good boy.
