The Walking Dead: Looking Back At The Six Months Since The Cliffhanger

It feels like just yesterday we were throwing our remotes at the TV screen, crying out for answers [...]

By Brandon Davis

It feels like just yesterday we were throwing our remotes at the TV screen, crying out for answers to who it was that Negan killed and how the team at AMC could leave us hanging in such mystery (and misery).

It was April 3, 2016 when Robert Kirkman and Scott Gimple delivered their geniusly crafted TV moment which has since become a phenomenon across all of pop culture. Comic conventions, comment sections, day to day conversations and heated Twitter debates have all been plagued with theories and questions regarding who Negan's victim would be.

However, since the final episode of The Walking Dead's sixth season, fans have come around and started to stand behind the mystery which got everybody talking in the off-season.

In addition to the buzz surrounding the trailer and the clues which have surfaced in the off-season, some huge pop culture moments outside of The Walking Dead have also taken place over the last six months. It's hard to believe how long it has been since Negan brought his bat down on the camera.

Let's take a look at some of the most memorable moments since The Walking Dead's off-season began...

TWD Since The Cliffhanger

The World Reacts

First, there were the world's reactions to The Walking Dead's new menacing villain.

Some fans were pleasantly terrified by Jeffrey Dean Morgan's arrival on the series and the introductions cliffhanger ending...

But, on the other hand, some fans were REALLY mad about the cliffhanger and felt betrayed by the shake-up of The Walking Dead's iconic issue #100.

But everyone had a theory on who died.

Jon Snow Lives

One of TV's biggest cliffhangers, Negan kill aside, was the Season 5 finale of HBO's Game of Thrones. Until Negan came around, the events at the Night's Watch was the hottest topic from television.

Capping the show's fifth season, Jon Snow was betrayed by the men who swore to follow him including a young boy named Ollie. For almost a year, the entire world wanted to know if Jon Snow was dead or alive. The question was only emphasized by the fact that the live-action adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novels had exceeded the story the author had written, so far.

Low and behold, the Season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones revealed Jon Snow's fate in its closing moments as Kit Harington's character took a gasp of air and was revived right before our eyes.

Game of Throne's sixth season has come and gone and we have also learned that the series will only pack a total of 13 episodes into its final two seasons.

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Chewbacca Mom

In the most viewed video in Facebook's history, Candace Payne laughed her way to super-stardom over the summer.

After an afternoon shopping at Kohl's, Payne took to Facebook live when the feature was still new and exciting to put on a Chewbacca mask she had bought for herself despite having a son who would enjoy it.

After putting on the mask, Payne could not control her laughter and the pure joy on display earned her invitations to The Ellen Show, the CMT Music Awards, and a boatload of endorsements.

As Bane would say… "No one cared who I was until I put on the mask."

Harambe - Rest in Memes

Animals have been frequenting headlines in recent months and rarely have any of the stories been joyful. However, the alligator in Disney World and Cecil the Lion haven't been able to top the cultural movement behind Cincinatti's fallen gorilla.

On May 28, a child found himself in the gorilla pit at the Cincinatti Zoo as his mother and others looked on in terror.

Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla, grabbed on to the little boy and dragged him through water and into various corners of the habitat. Before long, the zookeepers sprung into action and shot the gorilla to death in an effort to save the young boy.

With Harambe's passing, the gorilla has not been forgotten. In fact, the gorilla has become a meme as popular as Rick Grimes walking out of the prison to find his son shot his wife.

Rest in memes, Harambe.

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(Photo: Twitter / @latimes)

Pokemon GO

Given how big Pokemon GO got in its first few days of release on iPhone's and Android devices, it's surprising you have already forgotten about it.

For the first time, fans of the Pokemon franchise were able to play a version of the game on their mobile devices which encouraged them to get outside and hunt down wild Pokemon on foot.

The augmented-reality game took the world by storm, causing people to move in herds through Central Park and flock to Hall H at San Diego Comic Con for a standing room only panel in the 6,500 seat room.

However, the game's popularity came and went very quickly. A few technical glitches, lack of updates from the developers, and overall redundancy of gameplay prompted people to free up the massive amount of space the game occupied on their phones.

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San Diego Comic Con

San Diego Comic Con offered the first look at The Walking Dead's seventh season. The Hall H panel somehow managed to blow the roof off of the convention despite not offering fans a single new look at Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, or any other core character who was a candidate to be killed by Negan.

Maybe the tiger being revealed for the first time had something to do with that.

Comic Con also packed a lot of exciting news besides The Walking Dead. Marvel announced Brie Larson would play Captain Marvel and Michonne actress Danai Gurira joined the cast of Black Panther. And Warner Brothers showed off the first footage for Justice League.

The convention continued to show its dominance in building hype for all things geek culture.

Justice League Comic-Con Trailer Panel

Lochtegate

The biggest story from the Summer Olympics in Rio was not the impressive medal count which the U.S. probably had to pay extra baggage fees for to bring home but, instead, a boneheaded decision by one of the country's star athletes.

After a night of partying and getting back to the athletic village a little late, medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte decided to craft a dramatic story about being robbed at gunpoint at a Rio gas station as an excuse for his partying.

The story would blow up in his face as Rio officials would discover it to be false and Lochte himself would end up apologizing for causing such a scene.

Now, Lochte is making appearances at the Wizard World Comic Conventions. Have you bought your tickets yet?

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(Photo: TMZ)

Ken Bone & The Debates

Over the course of the year, Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump managed to emerge as the front runner candidates for their respective parties in the U.S. election. While the debates themselves have made for some of the most entertaining television of the year, it was one of the American citizens in attendance asking questions at Debate #2 who stole the show.

Dressed in a big red sweater and sporting an iconic mustache, Ken Bone was a scene stealer during the second Presidential Debate in early October. The man became a meme faster than Rick yelling, "Coral!"

Since the debate, Bone has made the most of his fame by gaining a few hundred thousand followers on Twitter, offering "Bone-Zone" t-shirts, and finding endorsements with Uber.

However, the man definitely has a questionable search history. Just ask Reddit.

kenbone

New York Comic Con

The first real clue to who Negan killed (or, at least, didn't kill) came at New York Comic Con.

AMC decided to unveil a clip from The Walking Dead's Season 7 premiere just two weeks ahead of the show's return. In it, we see Rick Grimes in the aftermath of Negan's kill with blood spattered across the right side of his face. Not only do we know (unsurprisingly) that Rick survives but also that the victim must be somewhere on the right side of Rick.

This shifts the popular candidates to Maggie and Abraham given their proximity to Rick's face.

Of course, the tease of Rick losing his hand also surfaced when Negan repeatedly asked about Rick having a "right hand man" before taking Rick into the RV with his axe.

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(Photo: AMC)

Premiere Week

Six months later, it's time for The Walking Dead's Season 7 premiere.

AMC has done an impressive job of keeping the details of the episode and kill a secret despite what some comment sections may claim to be absolutely certain about. Plus, those same fans who were swearing to boycott the series back in April are glued to their computers searching for answers and ready to park it on their couch Sunday night as the most anticipated episode of The Walking Dead takes the stage.

After so many months of buzz and curiosity, one can only assume the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead will be the highest rated episode of the entire series. To date, the most viewers an episode has hauled in live tops out at 16.11 million. It's a safe bet that The Walking Dead's Season 7 premiere will exceed those numbers.

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

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