THE WALKING DEAD certainly had a memorable outing for San Diego Comic-Con this year at the official Hall H Panel. With surprise announcements and reveals. Our hearts were not ready.

Panelists included cast members Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan plus executive producer and showrunner Angela Kang and executive producers Scott M. Gimple, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert, and special effects makeup supervisor and executive producer Greg Nicotero.

So what was so newsworthy? For one, the fabulous Yvette Nicole Brown took over hosting duties of the AMC panels. Secondly, it was confirmed that series protagonist Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) would be leaving the show having dedicated the better part of a decade of his career playing the role. We captured and shared his emotional response to the fans on our Twitter account which you can also find below.

We were also treated to a special preview of Season 9 (find that below) which seems to show both chaos and order rising for our favorite group of survivors. Most intriguing is a moment in the trailer when two newcomers to the show can be seen hiding from a hoarde of zombies and we hear from the mass of undead “WHERE ARE THEYYYY”. WHAT?!

With regards to rising order, Danai Gurira herself commented that she was excited for the group as they try to go back to the founding of the country and trying to figure out how you bring order to a land and getting people to agree to live in harmony… especially when some don’t want any harmony at all. It’s evocative of a Star Wars quote (translated in reverse) “lightness rises and dark to meet it.”

Can there ever be order in this post-apocalyptic world? How are they writing Rick off the show? Is Negan on a redemption arc? Will Maggie finally have her baby? There’s a lot in store for Season 9 of THE WALKING DEAD.

THE WALKING DEAD returns to AMC October 7, 2018.