The Walking Dead: Scott Gimple Confirms Negan’s Kill For Premiere

If you’re one of the many fans of The Walking Dead who was outraged by the Season 6 finale opting not to reveal who Negan would kill, you won’t be waiting much longer.

Scott Gimple confirmed during The Walking Dead‘s New York Comic Con panel at Madison Square Garden that we won’t have to wait any longer than the Season 7 premiere to find out who Negan killed. Fans expected as much but some of the more cynical viewers suspected Gimple and the team behind the AMC series might hold the reveal for a later episode, somehow.

“We do indeed,” Gimple says after Chris Hardwick put him on the spot on whether or not we’ll see the kill within the first hour.

“In putting together these episodes, I will say, this season…the performances this year are astounding. The actor this year are the star of the show,” Gimple promises. “Be on the look out for some amazing performances, some really weird creepy strange walkers.”

“They’re all gonna die. That’s what’s going through everyone’s head,” Reedus says of the group’s state of mind to close Season 6 and start Season 7. “It’s a weird feeling to be that powerless when we’ve always survived.”

“I hated filming that,” Reedus concludes.

A new clip from The Walking Dead‘s seventh season revealed at least one survivor of Negan’s hellish punishment to be Rick, with the victim being to his right, the viewer’s left. The clip is the first time AMC has released any new footage of potential victims from Negan’s line-up since the show went on hiatus in April. The Season 7 trailer kept all eleven faces out of any new footage when it was released at San Diego Comic Con in July.

Of course, the question remains: will the episode start with the kill?

Can The Walking Dead Season 7 just roll right into Negan’s kill? Absolutely. A “previously on AMC’s The Walking Dead” montage can lead into an expanded take on Negan’s brutal game of eenie-meenie-minie-moe game, one which doesn’t rapidly cut between characters and shows the suspense leading up to unlucky winner. Of course, this means we roll straight into a major brutal and violent death to start the new run of episodes, so don’t have plans or be late on the fateful Sunday night.

The Walking Dead returns for its seventh season on October 23 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.