The Walking Dead: New Photos From The Kingdom

Following the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead, AMC has released a new batch of photos for the second episode of the new year.

Episode 2 of Season 7 is called The Kingdom. The second hour is once again directed by executive producer Greg Nicotero and will introduce a handful of new characters to the series. First and foremost, Morgan, Carol, and fans will meet Ezekiel and his pet tiger Shiva.

On Sunday night, showrunner Scott Gimple promised the tiger would be introduced in the next new episode with Khary Payton's portrayal of the extravagant leader of the Kingdom on deck. Gimple also gave his word that the episode would be "funny" which is a welcome change of pace following the extremely brutal opening hour.

The Kingdom will run 76 minutes, packing an extra 16 onto its run time, as audiences head to a new community for the first time and Rick Grimes tells Alexandria he is not in charge anymore.

The aftermath of Negan's kill will be a lingering issue going forward. While some may blame Rick for his overly confident actions late in the show's sixth season, Glenn's death was completely avoided until Daryl Dixon decided to pop Negan in the face and prompt a second kill.

Featured in the new photos are looks at a couple of walkers, Morgan, Ezekiel, and - most importantly - his tiger Shiva. The photo of the King and his jungle cat is an accurate recreation of Ezekiel's introductory issue in The Walking Dead comics, #108.

Check out the photos in the gallery below.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.