Rick Grimes Returns to Sanctuary in ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9 Premiere Clip

A newly released clip from The Walking Dead Season Nine premiere sees pseudo-celebrity Rick Grimes return to the Sanctuary, where Michonne makes a surprise discovery.

Formerly under the dictatorship of the since defeated and jailed Negan, the Sanctuary — home to the Saviors — now sees a rotating door of supervision. Eugene, reporting a list of items needing "semi-immediate attention," is brushed off by a moody Daryl, who says the group is fresh off a loss following their field trip into the nearby Washington, D.C.

When reformed Savior Laura tells Daryl he should inform the Saviors of a good supply haul, Daryl shuts her down.

"I ain't getting up on a stage and giving a damn speech like him," Daryl says of the famously talky Negan before Michonne alerts him to graffiti reading "Saviors save us! We are still Negan."

Daryl says it's been happening "more and more since the crops been dyin'."

Without the goods that came by way Negan and his army of Saviors strong-arming the surrounding communities, the Sanctuary is withering while the Hilltop — under the leadership of Maggie Rhee — is thriving with crops.

Rick, who is striving to unite the communities and make a better future for all, will attempt to barter with Maggie and make a trade — but not everyone is sold on the idea of helping the Saviors, who just 18 months prior were enemy combatants.

While Rick has been embraced by some Sanctuary denizens, others will continue to take issue with their place in the system and will push back against the community heads.

The Saviors are the core force driving the problems early on in Season Nine, while decisions made in Season Eight — namely Rick's unilateral decision to spare and jail Negan instead of killing him — will continue to play out in the new season as they anchor a difference in philosophies that now splits Rick, Daryl and Maggie.

"We'll come into this season seeing that Maggie has really done so much to the Hilltop [and] has built it up," showrunner Angela Kang noted on Talking Dead of the tension between Rick and Maggie. "It's in such great shape as a community, and Rick recognizes that that's a direct result of her leadership."

"But we'll see that Maggie is just, you know, she's not gonna just fall in line with everything Rick's doing because she has to take care of her own people now," she said. "She's got her own agendas and she's gonna follow them."

The Walking Dead returns to AMC with its extended Season Nine premiere Sunday, October 7 at 9/8c.