8 Questions We Have After The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere

After months of agonizing waiting, The Walking Dead season 7 premiere has now arrived – at last revealing who was on the unlucky end of Negan’s trusty bat Lucille at the end of season 6. Naturally, the writers decided to troll the audience even further by holding back the reveal for about a third of the episode, but eventually we got the answer we've all been waiting for. And shockingly, it was not just one, but two of the group who bit the bullet. Namely, Glenn and Abraham. It’s a ballsy move, for sure, and one that will completely shake up the current status quo. As such, the deaths have angered some fans who are claiming it’s a shameless shock tactic rather than something that serves the story. Regardless of your personal opinion on it, it has certainly left us with many a question for the rest of the season to answer. Here, you'll find 8 of the most pressing questions we have following the premiere. Check them out and be sure to let us know what answers you're looking for after that shocking opener. 8) What’s Going To Happen To Maggie? One of the characters who has had the hardest time of it on The Walking Dead is Maggie, what with her having lost every single member of her family over the past few seasons. Even before the events of the premiere, she was extremely ill and pregnant (which sounds nice but isn’t so much a point of celebration in a post-apocalyptic world). Now, however, she’s lost her husband, too. With Glenn’s loss, she's determined to make her way to Hilltop to see a doctor, on her own – thereby not putting anyone else in danger. Of course, the others say they will stand by her, and honour Glenn as one of their own family. Their support, then, should keep her going through this difficult time, but will her health pick up in the long run? And will she actually have her baby? From a narrative point of view, it’s hard to imagine Maggie’s baby serving much of a purpose in the show. After all, we already have one infant that the group needs to protect in Judith. Do we really need another? On the other hand though, Maggie really needs some good news in her life, so she deserves to keep the baby. But is The Walking Dead kind enough to let her have at least that? 7) Will Rick Ever Really Recover? Rick Grimes, as played by Andrew Lincoln, has been the anchor of the show throughout its tenure. He’s been knocked down more times than we can count, but he has always got back up again. After what Negan has done to him and his team, though, we're not so sure it'll be that easy this time around. Apart from losing two friends, the thing that will surely really break Rick was what Negan almost made him do. To prove that Rick was no longer top dog, Negan ordered him to amputate Carl’s arm. If he didn't do it, the villain claimed he would kill everyone else. Obviously, Rick sobs and pleads for him not to make him do it, but the scary thing is he's definitely about to go through with it… until Negan calls him off. It's clear now that Rick is totally under his control. Almost cutting off your own son’s arm is the sort of thing that will take it out of a guy, and we imagine that Rick is going to be a bit down, to say the least, for the foreseeable future. But just how long will it be before he's back on his feet? 6) What's Happening At Hilltop And The Kingdom? With such devastation to deal with, this episode was completely set in one single location. While that was definitely the right move, it does leave us wondering what's going on with the other characters in the other locations out there. For instance, what’s next for the Hilltop colony, that of course has history with Negan? In particular, what role will Jesus fill in the upcoming season? He's only appeared a couple of times so far, so we would expect this popular character in the source material to have an increased presence from now on. Will he take Daryl's place in the team? We'll also be introduced to the Kingdom next episode, where we will meet Ezekiel and his CGI tiger Shiva, two popular figures from the comics who fans are excited to see realized on screen. We know that Morgan and Carol are there too, so how are they getting on after their own bad experiences last season? More importantly, how will they react when they find out about Glenn and Abraham? 5) How Will The Characters Be Affected Going Forward? As we said earlier, the move to kill off two main characters is a very controversial one. The real test of it though will be whether the deaths are followed through in a dramatically satisfying way. For instance, just how will each of the survivors be affected by Abraham’s and Glenn’s deaths? We’ve already discussed what could be next for Maggie and her baby, but how will this change her in the long term? In the comics (spoiler warning, I guess), she becomes the leader of Hilltop's colony. Will she maybe take over from Rick as the person to rally the group together against Negan? Every one of the group has some sort of personal connection to one or both of the victims, but will it result in some extra characterization for some of the more sidelined characters? Let’s hope so. 4) What Will Become Of Daryl? As sad as it is about Abraham and Glenn, at least we can let out a sigh of relief that Daryl survived to live another day. Despite being an original creation for the TV show, Daryl has lasted the entire run of the series so far - no doubt helped by his fan favourite status. Unfortunately for him, though, the events of the premiere suggest it’s not going to be plain sailing for Daryl for a while. Chiefly, he was captured by the Saviors, as a hostage to keep Rick under their thumb and also because Negan has a grudge against him after he attacked him. So, what have Negan and his cronies got in store for Daryl? Presumably, his aim is to beat and torture him into submission. But will it work? Or will Daryl be strong enough to withstand it all? The other big question is: how long will Daryl be Negan’s prisoner? Will this plotline last throughout the whole season, or at least a sizeable chunk of it? Ordinarily, you would expect Rick and the gang to stage a daring rescue – maybe capture some Saviors in exchange for Daryl. Yet, the team doesn’t seem up to that sort of heroics right now. 3) Does Daryl Blame Himself For Glenn’s Death? A particularly cruel twist of the opening episode is that one of the deaths could have been avoided. After Negan kills Abraham, Daryl lunges at Negan in retaliation. Unfortunately, Negan thinks that deserves further punishment and so turns around and violently bludgeons Glenn to death. So, does Daryl blame himself for what happened? Well, the short answer is: yes, absolutely. Even though Daryl did what anyone would do in that situation, he's surely going to feel responsible for the results of his outburst. According to Norman Reedus, it's something that is going to weigh heavily on him for some time to come: “He goes very, very dark. He does certain things that he can't go back from. He goes to a very, very dark, dark place. It's a combination of hatred. It's a combination of self-loathing. It's different from when he first started on the show. He has a big chip on his shoulder. He thought people wouldn't like him. He didn't give a shit. He hates you, too. It turns now into he kind of hates himself. He hates the world that we're in, and he doesn't lose the fight in him, but he definitely no longer sees anything good in the world, that's for sure." 2) Will The Group Split Apart? One of the most pressing questions we have after all the carnage of the premiere is whether the team can actually stay together after this terrible experience? At the moment, the pervading emotions of Rick, Maggie, Daryl and everyone seems to be either personal guilt or just plain confusion at how things have taken such a sudden turn for the worse. But how long will it be before certain members of the group start to blame each other and that confusion turns to anger? By losing two of their number in such a way, some of the team will surely start to re-evaluate whether they are truly safer together. Will some of the survivors move away from Alexandria and find a new safe zone? Or will they just split up into factions, with tensions running high between them? Alternatively, will everyone see the constant threat they're under as a sign that they need to stick together more than ever in order to bring Negan down? We can see this being a decision that is reached further down the line – especially if the show will adapt the “All Out War” arc – but for now we can see trouble brewing between the group in the near future. 1) Who Will Negan Kill Next? As brilliantly played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Negan has come into the show like a force of nature. He's only been in two episodes so far, and he's already cut down two of the series’ main cast. It serves as one hell of an introduction for the character, with many predicting that he could go on to replace The Governor as The Walking Dead’s best villain. Yet, he needs to keep up this momentum in the long term to ensure his place at the top. Obviously, there's a lot of material to mine from the comics here. Such as his fascinating relationship with Carl, the one person he actually seems to respect. While it could be interesting to humanize him to some degree, what we really want is for Negan to remain an unpredictable, unstoppable threat. Which, unfortunately for our heroes, means someone else has got to die. Given how much interest the season 6 cliffhanger generated for the new season, they will no doubt want to recreate the shock deaths of this episode. So, who will be next for the chopping block and when will it happen? All we know for certain is that Lucille has not claimed her last victim on The Walking Dead yet...