The Walking Dead Season 11 Premiere: "Acheron: Part 1"

It's the beginning of the end: The Walking Dead returns with its Final Season premiere, "Acheron: Part 1." The first half of the two-part premiere, airing tonight at 9/8c on AMC or streaming now on AMC+, launches the expanded Season 11 with the first eight episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season Trilogy. Spanning a total of 24 final episodes to air in three parts through 2022, the epic ending of The Walking Dead begins with a mission for survival that teams Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) when the survivors journey underground into walker-infested subway tunnels.

The official synopsis for "Acheron: Part 1":

Returning to Alexandria from a critical food mission, the group realizes it isn't enough. Maggie proposes a new plan, potentially a suicide mission. What choice do they have? They must find more food for all their people in order to survive and efficiently rebuild Alexandria. If they don't, Alexandria falls, taking them down with it. Once on the road, a violent storm erupts forcing them underground into a subway tunnel. As nerves fray and suspicions increase, chaos ensues. The terror is relentless as our people get a glimpse of what Maggie and her group endured prior to returning to Alexandria. Meanwhile, those captured by the strange soldiers are relocated to another undisclosed location."

The episode ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger that leaves a member of the group's fate unknown, but fear not: Season 11 Episode 2, "Acheron: Part 2," is now streaming early on AMC+ ahead of its August 29 premiere on AMC.

Season 11 introduces the Commonwealth, a highly advanced community governed by Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) and protected by brawny badass General Mercer (Michael James Shaw). The commander of the white-armored Commonwealth Military guards the outpost where Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), and Princess (Paola Lazaro) are "processed" by auditors Clark (Carrie Genzel) and Evans (Matthew Cornwell) in "Acheron: Part 1."

Maggie's group, guided by Negan, makes a hellish trek to the one place that can save a famished Alexandria from falling: The Meridian. Now home to Maggie and her son Hershel Rhee (Kien Michael Spiller), Alexandria is still suffering the aftermath of the Whisperer War — triggering the potential suicide mission and an unavoidable confrontation with the Reapers, an elite squad of human-hunting killers.

Read on for spoiler-free reactions from early viewers who watched "Acheron: Part 1" before its television airing.

The Walking Dead "Acheron: Part 1" is now streaming on AMC+ and premieres tonight at 9/8c on AMC. Here's how to watch new episodes early all season long.

Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for all things TWD Universe. The Walking Dead Season 11 airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.