The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere Will Run Longer Than Regular Episodes

Later this month, AMC is going to be pulling in record ratings when the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead airs. The much-anticipated return will finally answer the horrifying cliffhanger from last season's finale. The series will definitely return with plenty of action-packed gore, so it's no surprise to hear the premiere will have a longer runtime than regular episodes.

AMC has updated their site and revealed their television schedule for October 23. The network will be having an all-day marathon of The Walking Dead leading up to the premiere which airs at 9:00 p.m. ET. The episode will end and be replaced by Talking Dead at 10:06 p.m. ET, indicating an additional six minutes will be included to the premiere.

Of course, fans already have their own theories about the extended runtime. Many believe the additional minutes are meant for advertisements; After all, the return of The Walking Dead will rake in millions of viewers, and AMC could make millions off commercials alone. There are fans who also believe the extra runtime is because of flashbacks from last season's finale.

However, other viewers are speculating the longer time slot was created to honor whoever dies in the premiere. Last season, The Walking Dead ended on a cliffhanger which promised fans one of Rick Grimes' comrades was about to die by Negan's bat. There's little doubt that one of the show's fan-favorite characters will die later this month, so The Walking Dead may opt to memorialize the mysterious victim in an mid- or after-credit scene.

At New York Comic Con, fans were shown an exciting teaser from the Season 7 premiere. AMC debuted a clip that shows Negan and Rick speaking to one another after the villain bludgeons someone to death. The gory remains of someone is shown towards the clip's end as Negan drags Rick into an RV to possibly cut his hand off. The leader originally lost his hand in the comics because of The Governor, and actor Andrew Lincoln has admitted he'd like the show to stay faithful to the comics in that regard.

The Walking Dead also showed up to the convention with alums and cast in tow. ComicBook.com spoke to several actors such as Chad Coleman about the shocking cliffhanger from last season and asked who they thought Negan killed. Coleman said he believed the baddie may have offed more than one person and that he thinks Steven Yeun's Glenn might be a victim.

"I think there's one more surprise person," Coleman said. "I think for the first time they're going to kill two major characters in one episode." Others have been other episodes which contain a few big deaths. A few years ago, the show killed off both Lori and T-Dog in "Killer Within."

If you want to catch-up on all the NYCC updates about The Walking Dead, then you can head over to our recap of the event's biggest reveals.

The Walking Dead returns for its seventh season on October 23 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

[H/T] AMC