AMC

The Walking Dead tried to have its cake and eat it by Sunday’s Season 7 premiere cashing out not one, but two series regulars; one in line with the comic, one intended to throw us off. Now, creator Robert Kirkman explains why AMC’s Walking Dead opted to follow the comic so closely, noting that too much story was lost otherwise.

Even as The Walking Dead apparently locked down Negan’s victim two years ago, production still went through with its shell game of filming death scenes for each cast member. We saw glimpses of them with Sunday’s premiere, but a new leak reveals what might have been the show’s most horrific choice.

There’s been a bit of back-and-forth surrounding Negan’s victims from last night’s Walking Dead premiere, as some suggested they’d yet to choose the big death before this summer, while cast have claimed to know even longer. Now that the truth is finally splattered out in the open, showrunner Scott M. Gimple and creator Robert Kirkman say the doomed pair was chosen years in advance.

All summer long, Walking Dead fans have waited (some more patiently than others) to find out who suffered Negan’s bat in the Season 6 finale. At long last, Season 7 has officially arrived, and with it came not one, but two victims fallen to Lucille! Find out who bit the big one in Sunday’s premiere!

The second season of AMC’s Better Call Saul put the devil in the details to slyly confirm one major Breaking Bad return, but how many should we expect for Season 3? At least one more, according to Bryan Cranston, but perhaps not who you’re thinking.

Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman himself admitted to challenging the AMC series with adapting his comic tiger, “Shiva,” so is Season 7 up to the task? See for yourself, as AMC releases a new photo of Ezekiel’s majestic companion, and bosses explain in-depth how the animatronics and CGI work.

Time will tell if The Walking Dead can undo the fan ire that came with Season 6's cliffhanger finale, but time they certainly have. One week out from Season 7's premiere, The Walking Dead confirms that its endless parade of undead misery will continue through Season 8, and hit a major milestone at that.

The Walking Dead has the unique problem of promoting Season 7 without eliminating any cast from Negan’s potential victim pool, but at least two were pretty easily crossed off the list. A new clip from Season 7 fresh out of NYCC sees Rick and Negan in a deadly post-Lucille staredown, but is Rick about to wind up with a major injury of his own?

Even as Walking Dead comic fans knew it to be coming, AMC viewers may have been taken back by the Season 7 trailer appearance of “King” Ezekiel and his pet tiger Shiva. Season 7 brought the creature to life with animatronics and CGI, while creator Robert Kirkman admits he wrote the tiger in to see how a TV series might handle it.

Whether or not The Walking Dead turns into a 50-year franchise like Star Trek, the AMC series will inevitably either conclude before, or extend beyond Robert Kirkman’s comic source material. Whenever we get to that point, Kirkman at least confirms the two mediums will craft different endings, so as not to spoil one another.

We’ve over a month before The Walking Dead finally pulls back the curtain on Season 7 (and Negan’s victim), but AMC isn’t about to make that wait any easier. The latest promo for Season 7 once again keeps the focus on Negan himself, even showing off a bit more of his home.

Any series that traffics in severed heads long enough will invariably get creative with their molds, as did a recent Walking Dead episode that saw Johnny Depp’s face making an unexpected cameo. Well, purveyor of all weird memorabilia, Norman Reedus evidently kept the celebrity trophy for himself.