The Walking Dead: Will The Tiger Be In The Season 7 Premiere?

Once we can get past the fact that Negan is going to kill a main character on The Walking Dead, fans of the AMC series should all be excited about something else coming in the show's seventh season. Somewhere along the way, King Ezekiel and his tiger named Shiva will be introduced.

Comic book fans have long wondered if the show will actually attempt to adapt the noble steed to live-action and, as revealed in the San Diego Comic Con trailer for the series, not only the Greg Nicotero's visual effects team attempt to create the tiger but they succeeded. Shiva will be featured in The Walking Dead's seventh season.

Anyone who watched the trailer in July has been clamoring for the moment we hear Shiva roar on our television screens.

So, will that moment happen in the Season 7 premiere airing tonight? Will we meet Shiva in the opening hour of The Walking Dead's seventh season?

It's possible but highly unlikely.

The episode which will introduce Shiva and her kingly master will be the third of the season. Nicotero himself directed the episode, in addition to the premiere, which remains untitled to date.

It won't be Rick or any of the survivors of Negan's introduction who encounter Shiva for the first time. Rather, it will be Carol and Morgan who make their way to the Kingdom for an introduction to Ezekiel.

Shiva was first introduced in issue #108 of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comics. However, like her master, she does not live on in the black and white pages. In fact, Shiva sacrificed herself to protect Ezekiel in issue #118, meaning that she may not survive the entirety of Season 7 seeing as the show operates at a pace of about 20 issues per season.

Should Shiva be killed off in The Walking Dead's seventh season in true-to-the-comics fashion, it would mean that the adaptation is cruising through the All Out War story arc by April of 2017 and will likely leave us with a cliffhanger about half-way through the 12-issue arc. Then again, the TV series could always differentiate itself from the comics as it has in years past.

For those asking: yes, Shiva is immune to the zombie virus but that does not mean the jungle cat is invincible.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. Following The Walking Dead's Season 7 premiere, the entire cast will join Chris Hardwick for a live recap of the first new hour since April for a 90-minute Talking Dead special. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.