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‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9: New Photos, Cassady McClincy Cast in Key Role, Showrunner Talks Rick & Maggie

By Carter Lee
Published on: 09:32 PST, Aug 26, 2018

We are just a little over a month away from the premier of The Walking Dead Season 9. It has been known for quite some time now that The Walking Dead Season 9 will be Andrew Lincoln’s (Rick) final season, and fans are anxious to not only see how the character exits the show, but what the looming altercation between him and Maggie will bring. In a recent Walking Dead preview special, showrunner Angela Kang spoke on the relationship of Rick and Maggie and what we can expect from the duo in Season 9, as ComicBook reported.

“We’ll come into this season seeing that Maggie has really done so much to the Hilltop [and] has built it up. It’s in such great shape as a community, and Rick recognizes that that’s a direct result of her leadership. But we’ll see that Maggie is just, you know, she’s not gonna just fall in line with everything Rick’s doing because she has to take care of her own people now,” Kang commented, adding,

“She’s got her own agendas and she’s gonna follow them. That doesn’t mean that they hate each other, they still love each other, respect each other deeply, but they have some real differences in philosophy. That’s a story we’ll be playing through the season.”

We last saw Maggie being upset at Rick over his decision to let Negan live, and Angela Kang reiterated how that didn’t sit well with Maggie. A new cast member will be joining Rick, Maggie, and the gang during The Walking Dead Season 9, as ComingSoon documented. Cassady McClincy, known for her roles in Netflix’s Ozark and Hulu’s Castle Rock, will portray Lydia.

In the comics, Lydia was in a Romeo-and-Juliet-like romance with Carl; the two started forming a relationship as Rick’s group battled The Whisperers. With Carl now dead and gone from The Walking Dead, it’s unclear how Lydia will fit into Season 9, though it’s been reported that The Whisperers will be part of the season. Lydia had a key role in the comics, so it’s likely that she will have key role in the series.

New photos were recently released of The Walking Dead Season 9, and, as seen in the headline pic, Rick, Eugene, Carol, and Ezekiel are standing ominously in a warehouse. We’ll have to see what comes of that, but knowing The Walking Dead, it’s probably as dark as it looks. It’s also interesting to note that Eugene is carrying a gun, so it looks like he might have earned the trust from Rick and the gang again.

Other photos reveal Rick and company taking an old-school horse carriage from a building, most likely a museum in Washington, D.C., so it looks like the gang has finally run out of gas. Technically speaking, the gasoline should have gone bad years ago, but in a world filled with zombies, suspending one’s disbelief over the quality of gasoline was probably easy for most fans. The group can be seen riding on horseback in Oregon-Trail-like fashion, and that didn’t sit well with some fans.

As seen in the teaser below, it looks like Rick is using one of the horses to assist him with some good ole zombie bashing.

The Walking Dead Season 9 debuts on AMC on October 7.

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