[SPOILERS for those not caught up on The Walking Dead ahead.]
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The Walking Dead kicked off its seventh season with an episode that saw Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) claim the lives of two members of the core group of survivors we’ve been following for some time on the show. With Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his comrades on the ropes and facing a challenge like none they’d ever seen before, the foundations were laid out for what could be an incredible bunch of follow-up episodes. Viewers, however, have been leaving the show in their masses, with an almost seven million drop in those tuning into the live broadcast on TV network AMC.
Following the release of a teaser after The Walking Dead midseason finale aired, AMC has now further teased an "uprising" on the series, when it returns next year for the second half of season 7. That tease comes in the form of a new banner for the show, which you can check out below.
This new banner for The Walking Dead shows the members of Rick’s group that have survived to-date - doubling down on the promise of those very characters being encouraged to ‘Rise Up’ against the villainous forces surrounding them. There certainly looks to be an increase in tension and action when the zombie-apocalyptic television series makes its return in February. Contrasting the deep red color of the font against the beige background here really allows it to stand out, with the text pretty much guaranteeing a rebellion and a lot more bloodshed in the near future.
The turn of events alluded to here could be a welcome addition to the show, for those fans who feel that has lost its spark in the past seven episodes. The Walking Dead has never been shy in bringing some of the goriest and violent scenes to the small screen that television has ever seen - something that was efficiently proven within the seventh season’s premiere episode. Combining this with smart story-telling could bring the legions of former viewers right back to the series and allow it to regain some of the credibility it may have lost since season seven began.
With all of that being said, it has been nice to see a little more character development in the past few episodes of The Walking Dead, rather than a constant influx of chaos and destruction. The episode ‘The Cell’, for example, was a beautiful look into the breaking down of a significantly strong-willed character in Daryl; it also developed Dwight (Austin Amelio) and brought more layers to a person who, up until that point, was a bit two-dimensional. What the creators need to do now is find a balance between what they’ve done in the past and the writing we’ve seen in the past eight episodes.
NEXT: The Walking Dead Midseason Finale Review
The Walking Dead will air its midseason premiere on February 12, 2017 at 9pm on AMC.
Source: AMC