The Walking Dead apparently doesn’t need Rick Grimes to survive AMC’s apocalyptic ax. It’s doing well enough on its own, according to the network, which has renewed cable’s premier zombie drama for season 10.
AMC made the announcement on Twitter with a video featuring Samantha Morton’s Alpha and her creepy band of flesh-wearing Whisperers. Check it out below:
The renewal should quiet skeptics who have been wondering since the beginning of season 9 whether the show still has the legs to shamble on. It’s no secret that the last few years have been rough for The Walking Dead in terms of viewership. After the show posted its weakest ratings for a season premiere since season 2, with only 9.36 million viewers watching the season 9 opener, the viewership has continued to decline over the weeks, falling to 4.79 million during episode 7 before a slight improvement during the midseason finale, which posted 5.09 million viewers.
But while it’s been a weak year in the ratings — although not as bad when compared to many of AMC’s other, more niche offerings — the show has continued to improve its storytelling. Under new showrunner Angela Kang, the series has seen three major shakeups that have brought back a bit of energy to the post-apocalyptic proceedings: the year-and-a-half time jump in the season opener, Rick and Maggie’s exit in episode 5, and a six-year time jump directly after that.
Advertisement
Further Reading: The Walking Dead Season 9 Ending Explained
Let’s not forget the introduction of the Whisperers, a new faction of villains that fans of the show have been clamoring for since last season. The debut of this twisted group left a major character dead and the lives of a few other beloved characters in limbo. The second half the season fleshed out the story of these knife-wielding maniacs and introduced their ruthless leader, Alpha, the show’s new big bad. Unsurprisingly, their debut on the show left quite a few corpses in its wake, including Tara, Enid, and Henry. We have a feeling season 10 will be even bloodier.
For now, we have some great new key art to obsess over:
Here’s everything else we know about the upcoming season:
The Walking Dead Season 10 Trailer
AMC has released a brief clip from the episode, which you can watch below, along with some footage from a table read:
The latest promo centers on the Whisperers and their plan to be “the end of the world.” Doesn’t sound good for our heroes…
In this next promo, Ezekiel rallies his people to survive:
Here’s another trailer:
The first Walking Dead season 10 trailer premiered at SDCC 2019. Watch it below!
The Walking Dead Season 10 Cast
We expect all surviving cast members to return as well, and for Daryl and Carol to continue at the forefront of the show. Unfortunately, this will be Danai Gurira’s final season as Michonne on The Walking Dead. More on that here.
We have some good news too, though. Seven cast members have been promoted to series regulars: Cailey Fleming (Judith), Cassady McClincy (Lydia), Lauren Ridloff (Connie), Eleanor Matsuura (Yumiko), Nadia Hilker (Magna), Ryan Hurst (Beta), and Cooper Andrews (Jerry).
Showrunner Angela Kang has also revealed that AMC is currently in talks with Lauren Cohan to see her return as Maggie. It sounds like it’s very early days on that front, though, so don’t expect her to show up at the very beginning of the season.
It’s also been revealed that we’ll get to meet the show’s version of Dante, a character from the comics who’s yet to make it to the screen. Dante is described as a fast-talking rogue and will be played by Juan Javier Cardenas (Snowfall).
Two new cast members were revealed during the series’ SDCC 2019 panel: Kevin Carroll (The Leftovers) has also joined the cast as a character named Virgil, who is described as “ a highly intelligent and resourceful man who is desperately trying to get home to his family.” You can see the first look at his character below:
Meanwhile, Thora Birch (Ghost World) will play a Whisperer named Gamma, who is described as “fiercely protective” of Alpha. Here’s your first look at Gamma, with and without her horrifying mask:
The Walking Dead Season 10 Release Date
The Walking Dead season 10 will arrive on Oct. 6.
The Walking Dead Season 10 Photos
AMC has released the first round of official Walking Dead season 10 photos. That’s a lot of Negan.
The Walking Dead Season 10 Story
Here is the official synopsis:
The Walking Dead is a story that started 10 years ago with one man trying to find his family. That family grew and gradually communities took shape. They fought and survived, thrived and gave birth to a new generation. It is a tale of humankind and there are more stories to tell.
It is now Spring, a few months after the end of Season 9, when our group of survivors dared to cross into Whisperer territory during the harsh winter. The collected communities are still dealing with the after effects of Alpha’s horrific display of power, reluctantly respecting the new borderlines being imposed on them, all while organizing themselves into a militia-style fighting force, preparing for a battle that may be unavoidable.
But the Whisperers are a threat unlike any they have ever faced. Backed by a massive horde of the dead it is seemingly a fight they cannot win. The question of what to do and the fear it breeds will infect the communities and give rise to paranoia, propaganda, secret agendas, and infighting that will test them as individuals and as a society.
The very idea of whether civilization can survive in a world filled with the dead hangs in the balance.
Kang revealed a few story details to EW ahead of SDCC 2019. Primarily, season 10 will see the “cold war” between the communities and the Whisperers escalate. The tensions stem from the border that was violently marked by Alpha last season.
“Obviously, we know that our people have crossed the border before,” Kang explained. “The border continues to be an issue, and as with borders in our world and in life, what is a border? It’s something where one group has said, “Hey, this is the border. Don’t cross.” Our people are dealing with, “Do we live with that? Can we live with that? What does that mean?” When they crossed the border at the end of last season, they discovered that the Whisperers weren’t there, or at least they think they’re not.”
The season will explore the PTSD left in the wake of Alpha’s devastating attack on the Kingdom’s fair: “We’re dealing with a lot of things also to do with people’s trauma, and the idea of what is real or not real. Things having to do with illusion, or just memory breaking, PTSD. So there’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that’s pretty unique to the feel of this season. We’re also having a lot of fun with the fact that the last time our people were in a war, it was automatic weapons and gunfire, but we’re just not really in that period of time anymore. So we’re working on some battle stuff that is unlike anything we’ve done on the show, which I’m super-excited about.”
Kang also promised that fans will get to see a lot more of the Whisperers’ origin story in this coming season: “We’ll be telling more of their side of the story in season 10. We will get some interesting backstory, and some more insight into some more characters within that group. We will learn more about Alpha and Beta. They’ve got their own problems, too, within their group, so there will be some interesting back-and-forth between our two groups as they deal with this conflict at the border.”
The showrunner also teased that Negan will finally be freed from his cell this year after saving Judith at the end of season 9. Is this a smart move on Michonne’s part or will Negan fall back to his old ways? You can read more on this specific plotline here.
Finally, Eugene will get to play out a big storyline from the comics, which involves that radio from season 9. Read more about that here.
The Walking Dead Season 10 Spoilers
We’ve read the comics and have created a spoiler-y roadmap to what might be in store for The Walking Dead season 10, including the start of the Whisperer War. Read more here.
John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.