Photo: AMC
Right before Season 6 ended, I decided to brush up on The Walking Dead comic books to see if they were better or worse than the show. By the time I caught up to where the season ended, I realized it wasn’t so black and white — even though, yes, the books are illustrated without color. While the comics certainly do improve upon the show in places, ultimately, the combination of the two is what makes the experience of The Walking Dead as a whole that much better. Hence, I believe the upcoming seventh season is going to surprise many fans of the show, and not just because of who Negan winds up killing. We’re in for an exciting ride once bat hits brains.
Be warned: potential SPOILERS for Season 7 are everywhere from here on out.
Characters Who Will Surprise You in Season 7 of ‘The Walking Dead’:
Dwight
But…we hate this guy, right? That’s what they really want you to think. But everyone has a backstory, and Dwight’s proves to be a pretty interesting one indeed. Look for him to slowly work his way towards becoming Negan’s number two before the big reveal: he hates his leader more than anyone, and is willing to do whatever it takes to help Rick and the gang take him down, even if it means doing it from the inside. You’ll sympatize with his plight a little more once you find out how his face got all burned up. Hint: it was Negan.
Negan
Photo: AMC
There are many characters on this show — Carl immediately comes to mind — who the audience loves to hate. Negan, on the other hand, is a character you will eventually hate to love. It may not seem possible considering the last time we saw him, he was bludgeoning one of your favorite characters to death, but the dude is quite charismatic. As far as the comics are concerned, he’s easily the best written bad guy of the series. And now that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is filling his shoes, we can only imagine it will stay that way.
Carl
Photo: AMC
They’ve made a lot of mistakes with Carl on the show, and unfortunately he’s a bit older now in real life than he is in the comics at this time (12). But his age shouldn’t really affect anything as long as they continue with the path was laid out for him in the books. Long story short, he goes after Negan solo, and survives mainly because Negan admires the kid’s gusto. Sadly, considering they gave Carol the Carl storyline from the comics involving the murder of Lizzie — Ben in the books — he’s already working with a lot less badass nature to his character. With any luck, that will be rectified this season.
Ezekiel/Morgan
Photo: AMC
I had a working theory that was shot down the minute Khary Payton was cast as Ezekiel. My thought was that instead of casting a new actor in the role, “Ezekiel” would simply be the moniker Morgan took on once he came to The Kingdom — the new community he and Carol ended up at last season — and took charge of the place. After all, Morgan is long dead in the comics, having gone out in a similar manner to Tyreese on the show. Nevertheless, the reason I assumed this was because the character of Ezekiel winds up being a bit of a fraud in the comics, essentially playing the role of king rather than being all that well equipped or worthy of the status. He does have a pretty awesome pet tiger in both incarnations, though, so that’s a major plus.
Jesus/Daryl
Photo: AMC
Provided Daryl actually survives the premiere, we should expect to see some overlap between his storylines and those belonging to Jesus in the books. Also known as Paul Monroe, Jesus basically becomes Rick’s new right-hand man after the death of Abraham. He’s skilled and incredibly stealthy, something they’ve illustrated to us already. He eventually helps Rick track down Negan’s secret hideout by following Dwight back from one of his missions. I believe Jesus — or Daryl –is secretly spying on Dwight from the bridge in this preview clip released by AMC earlier this year, as a very similar scene takes place in the comics. But time will tell.
Michonne
Photo: AMC
We already got a huge surprise from Michonne in Season 6 when she and Rick finally made things official. However, she winds up with Ezekiel in the comics, while Andrea and Rick become the power couple instead. Since Andrea was killed back in Season 3 of the TV series, this leaves her storylines wide open for Michonne to take over. Michonne is much less compelling in the books during the coming of Negan, so this could turn out to be a good thing for now. Andrea has a very close call when faced with one of Negan’s henchmen early on, so we can expect a similar situation to play out with Michonne. Which brings us to our next surprise character.
Rosita
Photo: Gene Page/AMC
Rosita is another character who, in the books, doesn’t have too much to do coming up. Fortunately, she’s also been splitting some of Andrea’s storylines with Michonne on the show, as it was Andrea — not Rosita — who had a brief fling with Spencer in the books. Given that fact, it could very well be Rosita who ends up having the near-death tussle with Negan’s goon and not Michonne. The confrontation does take place in a bell tower, and Rosita is much more the sniper type than Michonne is. In either case, both of these characters will have plenty of storyline to fall back on when the show returns. Heck, I haven’t even mentioned Rosita’s relationship with Eugene yet.
Eugene
Photo: AMC
That’s right, somehow Eugene is going to end up bagging Rosita. In the books, this happens more or less because Abraham dumped Rosita like he did on the show and then got himself killed. Since Eugene was basically the only other friend she had during her time with Abe, she turns to him for comfort and one thing leads to another. Whether or not they choose to go this route on the show, Eugene will still have plenty of stuff — and things — to do now that he’ll be manufacturing the ammunition for Alexandria. Granted, this is only if they don’t pull a fast one on all of us and have Negan take him out with Lucille, which hardly anyone has predicted.
Spencer
Photo: AMC
If you figured Spencer isn’t long for this world now that he’s made his voice heard regarding his opposition to Rick’s leadership, well, you’re most likely right. If the rest of his plot plays out anything like it does in the books — and let’s be honest, we all hope it will — he’ll eventually try to pull a fast one by asking Negan to take Rick out so that he can resume control of Alexandria like his mother before him. Little does Spencer realize that Negan will see this as a sign of cowardice and instead brutally murder him for trying to get someone else to do his dirty work. That’s a shame.
Rick
Photo: AMC
Since I’m assuming Season 7 — or at least the first half — will end right as Rick declares all out war against Negan, odds are the show is going to make you hate Rick right up until the very end of the first episode. In the books, once Negan kills Glenn, he basically owns Rick and his people. Instead of fighting back, Rick concedes. He just lays down and takes it in the interest of keeping his people safe, which Andrea (Michonne) doesn’t respond favorably to. However, in the zero hour, right as Andrea/Michonne tells him what a pathetic pansy he is, Rick reveals that he secretly has Jesus on the case. This leads us right back into what we mentioned about Jesus earlier, who will then take Rick to The Kingdom so that Alexandria, The Hilltop and The Kingdom — and Dwight — can bring the fight to Negan’s backyard and end his reign of terror once and for all.
