The world has been overrun by zombies, and a group of survivors, led by ex-Sheriff Rick Grimes, are battling to save themselves from not only the perambulating undead, but from their fellow human survivors.
Picking up from the mid-season finale’s cliffhanger, things are undoubtedly about to go from bad to worse in the second half of season six for our rag tag group of post-apocalyptic people with the addition of one particular comic book favourite.
*warning – slight spoilers for the first half of season six
Why we’re looking forward to this: If you’re haven’t given up on The Walking Dead in protest at the slightly underhand emotional manipulation that they engaged in mid-way through first half of season six, then join us behind the sofa as we wait to see whether our group of gore covered survivors make it through the sea of the undead that are currently swarming through Alexandria, whether Morgan and Carol can even be in the same room without the latter taking action against the former, and whether Glenn will ever actually make it back to Maggie’s side before she drops their baby (if indeed she does, because one thing we’ve learned about The Walking Dead is that nobody is safe).
The big news for the comic book fans among us is that one of the best bad guys to grace its pages is finally arriving in the television show. Negan, played by the ever reliable Jeffrey Dean Morgan, will be making his (hopefully) foul mouthed, violent debut, along with his beloved barbed wire wrapped baseball bat Lucille, which if the comic mythology is anything to go by does not bode very well at all for one of the current regular cast. That said, things have played out differently to the printed page before, and we have a sneaky suspicion that The Waking Dead will blindside us with a different turn of events just because it can. Or maybe it won’t, maybe it’ll double bluff us.
Either way, we’re very much awaiting the return of Rick, Carol, Abraham, Glenn, Maggie, and particularly Daryl (and yes, if he dies, we’re still going to riot) but we’re not taking bets on whether they’ll all still be around for season seven.
The Walking Dead is back in the US on Valentine’s Day (and may well break our hearts) and in the UK the following night.
RICHARD COSGROVE
