Breaking Down The Walking Dead Season 7 Trailer
The seventh season of The Walking Dead starts in October, and fans couldn't possibly be more anxious after that ridiculous sixth season cliffhanger. AMC dropped their first trailer for the new season during San Diego Comic-Con, sending eager Deadites to scour every second for clues. They found nothing, but that doesn't mean the trailer didn't have a few great moments and hints about what's to come. Here's a look at what we actually got to see...and what we didn't.
Negan's revenge
Of course, the number one question on everyone's mind is whose skull Negan crushed at the end of the last season, so the season seven trailer starts out with a recap of all the potential victims, in order: Glenn, Carl, Daryl, Maggie, Sasha, Michonne, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Aaron, and Rick. For the first minute and twenty-two seconds of the trailer, we see flashbacks from the entire series, played over the background of Negan's barbed wire-wrapped bat.
If you're a comics reader, you know that this is the moment Glenn dies, which is why this series of images starts with him. But because the show diverges from the comics in so many places, we have no true way of knowing what will happen in October.
On the road
During the first moment of new footage, we see a party on horseback traveling down a road towards a large city. It's extremely reminiscent of Rick's journey in the very first episode. At the back of the party, we see Morgan, with his distinctive battle stick. We also catch the slightest glimpse of Carol. Last we saw the two, Morgan had just saved Carol from a rogue Savior who'd been stalking her after a violent showdown on the road. Moments after Carol is saved, two mysterious men arrive wearing bulletproof armor. We don't know who they are, but they seem to be pretty good guys and offer to help. This scene picks up pretty much where we left off.
Dwight
Next, we see Dwight again. He's pretty much the main character of this trailer, for reasons we don't yet know. A little history on Dwight: during season six, he'd escaped Negan's Saviors with his wife and another friend, and stole Daryl's stuff. Before the end of the season, Dwight had either rejoined Negan (or been re-captured), and was given a severe facial burn as punishment. He's also the guy who captured Daryl, Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita in the penultimate episode of the sixth season, and he seems to have re-risen among the Saviors' ranks, probably due to his successful capture of four Alexandrians and the murder of Denise. Here, he's spouting Negan's golden rule as he aims a gun at an unknown figure's face ("Everything's his, or will be"), so he's again drinking the Kool-Aid...but there's little doubt that he still has his own angle on Negan.
Later, we see Dwight bowing down to Negan as he passes, so we see that he's not all that special. We also spot Dwight gazing up at a huge, shadowy structure as he dismounts his bike.
Honey
Here's one that most casual viewers may have missed. At one minute and forty-seven seconds, we see Honey. She'd first appeared with Dwight during his escape from the Saviors, where it was revealed that she's Dwight's wife. With her reappearance, it only lends credence to the idea that Dwight will definitely be a major character. Again, if you're a comic reader, you have inside knowledge: Dwight takes control of the Saviors once Negan is removed from power. Honey expresses her distrust and fear of Negan pretty clearly in this trailer, but we already knew that her and Dwight kinda hate Negan.
She seems to appear again later, in a stairwell, as Dwight looks up at her. It seems likely that their relationship will be at least a minor thread in the upcoming season.
Olivia
In the trailer's creepiest scene, we see Olivia again. You know, the lady in Alexandria who monitors the weapons and baking supplies. This time, she's hanging out with Negan and a cool glass of lemonade, and she doesn't seem to be enjoying either. We don't know if this scene is in Alexandria, where Negan may now have free rein, or if Alexandria's more curvaceous residents have been forcibly relocated.
The Kingdom
At 2:06, we see some familiar body armor. It's the same stuff worn by the guys who were guiding Carol and Morgan to safety earlier.
Soon after that, Carol appears to be in a theater, where she expresses her confusion with the most buzzworthy line in the entire trailer. Carol's entire belief system has been rattled to the ground at this point, so her strange mania isn't a huge surprise...but her face also seems healed from her earlier injuries. While all of these trailer clips don't come from the first episode alone, is it possible that this season will involve a significant time skip?
And at 2:24, the biggest reveal is dropped (that is, if you've avoided casting spoilers over the past year): Ezekiel appears. He's the man who rules the Kingdom with his pet tiger. It's clear now that the guys who rescued Carol and Morgan are from the Kingdom. Carol and Morgan are seen a moment later in a hugely thriving community, as Carol is pushed through town in a wheelchair by Morgan.
If we saw a dude with a tiger in the middle of zombieland, we'd probably have the same insane reaction as Carol, too.
Jesus
The trailer also reveals the unsurprising return of Jesus, fighting zombies in what is pretty clearly the Hilltop community, based on the structure of the walls. Something bad has definitely gone down while Rick has been away, because behind Jesus there's at least two human bodies hanging by their necks from the walls' walkways. Hilltop's destruction is confirmed a few moments later, when Gregory, Hilltop's leader, peers out of his window into a fiery expanse.
And at 2:18, Jesus hops into a food truck, once again trying to play Robin Hood—because that worked so well the first time.
Enid
Last time we saw Enid, all the way back in Alexandria, she was locked in a closet by Carl. He didn't really have a backup plan for the proper care and feeding of his maybe-girlfriend if he was captured, so it's good to see Enid out in the wild again. At least we know if Carl ever makes it home, he won't open his closet to find the angry undead corpse of a teenage girl waiting for him. He'll probably just eventually find an angry, living teenage girl. We'd rather face the zombie.
Tara
And then, as sort of an after-credits scene, we see Tara cowering in a ditch, pursued by an unknown woman. Tara remained in Alexandria while everyone else escorted Maggie to Hilltop for medical care...but it seems like nowhere is safe, and even Alexandria has been compromised without heavies like Rick and Michonne there to protect it. And there's a possibility that at least one of them will never come back.