(Warning: Spoilers ahead for “The Walking Dead” Season 9 premiere, “A New Beginning”)
The anticipated Season 9 premiere of “The Walking Dead” was an extra-long episode, and the added minutes saw the death of a certain ex-Hilltop leader. That death will have “consequences” that will impact the entire season, according to showrunner Angela Kang.
“A New Beginning” sees a time jump to 18 months after the Season 8 finale’s culmination of “All Out War.” Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) has been hard at work bringing the people of Alexandria, Hilltop, Oceanside and the Sanctuary together, and there seems to be relative peace at the opening of the episode. But it soon becomes clear that that peace won’t last forever.
We learn that Maggie has been elected the new leader of the Hilltop, beating out Gregory, who turns out to be quite the sore loser. He tries to kill Maggie and the attempt causes Maggie to make an example of him by ordering he be hanged in the dead of night.
Maggie’s decision to kill Gregory will have ramifications that ripple throughout the entire season, Kang told TheWrap, adding that the premiere episode acts as “the first… in a line of dominoes” to fall.
“For Maggie’s point of view, in that episode, we really wanted to establish that she is… developing a different philosophy of leadership,” Kang said. “Maggie is finding her own voice, and it’s a voice that Rick has encouraged.”
Maggie says as much to Rick in a scene on her porch at the Hilltop, and after Gregory’s hanging, she tells her community that she doesn’t want execution to become a regular activity. But, Kang said, that doesn’t mean that Gregory’s death won’t have its own ramifications.
“But of course, like anything, [it] has its consequences,” Kang said. “And anything that’s as big as an execution that’s really kind of done in this very vigilante style — like in the dead of night trying not to let the children see it, with torches and everything — it’s going to have a reaction from the various people who are seeing it.”
“It means different things to different people,” she continued. “And so we thought that was an interesting [thing] to explore, the way that one event can just ripple out towards so many different people and in unexpected ways.”
“The Walking Dead” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
'The Walking Dead': Let's Obsess Over These New Season 9 Images (Photos)
"The Walking Dead" Season 9 is still close to two months away, but we have some new photos from the first episode and we're obviously trying to glean as much information from them as possible. In this first photo, we see Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carol (Melissa McBride), Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt).
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Michonne, looking fierce as always. In Season 9, Michonne has added a small plaid wrap from one of Carl (Chandler Riggs)'s shirts to keep his memory close, according to showrunner Angela Kang.
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Maggie (Lauren Cohan) has taken over as the leader of the Hilltop in the upcoming season, and it looks from this photo like she is indeed leading the pack.
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This photo looks like Maggie's Hilltop residents have encountered someone or something that's caught them by surprise. In the back, you can see former Savior Alden (Callan McAuliffe), who was once Maggie's prisoner.
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What are Daryl, Michonne and Rick looking at?
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Carol and Ezekiel are in a happy relationship at the beginning of Season 9. In one clip released from the Season 9 premiere, Carol tells Daryl that after having an abusive husband like Ed in the past, dating Ezekiel is nice -- even though he can be corny.
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We saw a bit of this scene in the Season 9 trailer released at Comic Con. It seems as though the crew has made it to Washington, D.C., and are trying to get this wagon out of a museum.
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Good ol' Jerry (Cooper Andrews) is here to hopefully provide some more of his sweet comic relief.
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Rosita (Christian Serratos) is writing something on this road sign. Remember the "A"s that will occasionally pop up? Showrunner Angela Kang recently said that "there is a meaning" to it, which we'll find out this season.
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Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) debuts a new glass eye after that strange condition that showed up last season.
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Daryl has his crossbow at the ready in this picture -- but we can expect the apocalypse's heartthrob to have some new weapons this season as well. Reedus helped design some "saw-backed Bowie knives with finger rings that allow you to quickly twirl the knives into different positions (you can grip them in either direction)," Kang said on AMC's blog this week.
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In this last shot, it seems like the crew were successful in getting that wagon and are headed... somewhere. Back to the Hilltop? To the communal camp from the trailer?
Season 9 hits AMC on Sunday, Oct. 7.
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New photos hint at the post-All Out War world
"The Walking Dead" Season 9 is still close to two months away, but we have some new photos from the first episode and we're obviously trying to glean as much information from them as possible. In this first photo, we see Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carol (Melissa McBride), Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt).