6 Things We'll Definitely See on The Walking Dead Season 7

The first few moments of the seventh season premiere will reveal the unlucky character Negan chooses to kill in spectacular, bloody fashion with his bat. Whether it's Glenn like it was in the comic books or someone new to throw things off (like Daryl or Michonne), the death will undoubtedly change the course of the show forever.

After Negan captures the Alexandrians, he explains that although he has to kill a member of their group to make up for their deadly assault on a Savior compound earlier in the season, he doesn't want to. And why not? Because, as he explains in the scene, Alexandria is his now. Rick and everyone living there work for him, and from this point on, he'll take half of what they have (food, weapons, etc.). He doesn't want to make a habit of killing all of his employees, but he'll do what's necessary to keep the "new world order" running smoothly.

Showrunner Scott M. Gimple confirmed that the unlikely friendship that blossoms between Carl and Negan in the comic books will manifest itself in the show in some way. "It may be very brief but we will absolutely see them have a pretty intense moment," he told THR. "There's going to be a bit of remixing and there may be another character involved who takes some of it. That relationship will be absolutely shown. Whether it's with Carl or not, I can not say. But I absolutely want to explore Negan having that kind of respect for someone, which is the hallmark of that relationship."

In the books, the Kingdom is another community nearby Alexandria that's led by a former zookeeper named "King Ezekiel" and his pet tiger, Shiva (yes, a real tiger). Ezekiel hates Negan, so he's eventually persuaded to team up with Rick to try and take the Saviors down. In the show's finale, as well as very briefly in the penultimate episode, we get glimpses of some Kingdom citizens, clad in body armor and riding horses. One of the trailers for season seven even focuses entirely on introducing viewers to Ezekiel, and he seems as eccentric as ever.

When POPSUGAR recently spoke to actor Ross Marquand, who plays Aaron, he hinted that the Saviors and the Kingdom aren't the only communities Rick and company will come in contact with. "The Kingdom is coming into play, of course we have the Saviors and their compound, and not to give too much away, but there are other groups that we're going to be meeting up with as well," he revealed. "It's going to change [the characters] immeasurably."

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Greg Nicotero also opened up about where we can expect the main characters to go after Negan does his thing:

He additionally confirmed that these introductions will "happen pretty rapidly and pretty dramatically as we get into episodes one, two, three, and four."

Thanks to the above Instagram photo that The Walking Dead's account recently shared, it really seems like the Whisperers are going to play a role in season seven. If you haven't heard of them before, they're a murderous group of survivors who wreak havoc on everyone by dressing up in the skins of dead walkers, and killing anyone they come across. They also prefer to speak in only hushed tones (hence their moniker), and cut off their victim's heads and put them on spikes (there's a scene in the comics when they attack Alexandria and do just that), which is why the Instagram is so telling.

It's also worth noting that in season three's "Clear," Morgan goes on long, crazy rant about seeing "people wearing dead peoples' faces." More than a few viewers took that to be a reference to how the Whisperers look, and have been anticipating their arrival ever since.