‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7: New Promo Pushes Hope, Creator Hints Fewer Deaths

Warning: This article contains Walking Dead Season 7 spoilers.

Most fans will agree that The Walking Dead Season 7 has been one of the most violent and depressing seasons in the show’s bloody history. The much-hyped season premiere began with the brutal deaths of two beloved characters — Glenn and Abraham — and it marched forward under a cloud of doom and gloom. However, a new midseason promo released by AMC hints the mood may be a bit lighter when the second half of the season premieres later this month.

In the teaser, formerly apathetic Rick is shown rallying the remaining band of zombie fighters to take on Negan, saying, “It’s not about loss anymore. It’s about a future.” The video also shows Daryl reunited with his crossbow, Carol looking ready to kick ass, and Rick and Michonne kissing. In other words, the group seems ready to come together and move forward with the task of living again.

In the extended teaser, the cast and crew push the idea that the last episodes of Walking Dead Season 7 will be more hopeful than the first half.

“You see that hope that we maybe, just might, can,” actress Danai Gurira (Michonne) says. “You’re seeing people in a whole new place of strategizing, but really against magnificent odds,” she added.

Meanwhile, executive producer Gale Ann Hurd underscores the group’s fortitude.

“They still don’t have the weapons. They don’t have the manpower. But they’ve got the will.”

Entertainment Weekly spoke with executive producer and director Greg Nicotero about upcoming Walking Dead Season 7, and he also emphasizes a lighter theme that leads to a “thrilling” finale.

“I’m very excited,” he says.

“I think episode nine is one of the best of the season, by far, in terms of storytelling, in terms of performances, in terms of audience expectations of seeing the band back together and putting our group back on their feet again. It’s very exciting and quite a bit of fun, and the season builds and builds up to an absolutely thrilling finale.”

Nicotero also teased a cool scene coming up in the Season 7 premiere.

“In the midseason premiere, there’s an action sequence that I devised that is pretty stupendous and very exciting. I can’t wait for people to see it.”

As if all that good news wasn’t enough, Walking Dead comic book creator Robert Kirkman says that Walking Dead Season 7 and beyond will have fewer deaths, according to SlashFilm.

“In my opinion, there should be less death in the book now, much less, because the careless people, the scared people, the people learning how to live in this world are already dead,” explains Kirkman.

“This is the cream of the crop, so to speak. So, yes, there can be a conflict like the Whisperer War, and there can be very little death. You think Michonne is going to just let herself get bitten by a zombie or stabbed by a Whisperer at this point? It wouldn’t be believable! Rick, Andrea, Carl, Jesus, Dwight, Negan, Maggie, these people are tempered steel! That’s not to say they’re invulnerable, or ‘safe’ now but it would take a lot to kill them.”

Kirkman also acknowledges that many Walking Dead fans didn’t like the Season 6 finale and hints the Season 7 finale will correct that mistake.

“I think everyone on The Walking Dead creative team has taken note of that, and I don’t know that I would expect a similar cliffhanger at the end of season 7.”

Let’s hope that’s the case.

To further prepare yourself for the second half of Walking Dead Season 7, check out the AMC synopsis posted by NY Daily News.

“The first half of Season 7 saw Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group broken by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), forced to fall under his will and brutally convinced to live under his rules. The second half of the season will focus on preparing for war and gathering the supplies and numbers to take Negan down once and for all.”

The Walking Dead returns Sunday, Feb. 12, at 9 p.m. on AMC.

[Featured Image by AMC]