The Walking Dead is a show that’s managed to entertain audiences across the globe for almost seven full seasons now, and whilst viewers may be feeling a little concerned with the direction in which the story is being taken, it’s hard to deny it’s one of the greatest successes the small screen has seen in the modern day.

Throughout the first half of the show’s current seventh season, we’ve seen new big bad Negan take Rick Grimes and his group of zombie apocalypse survivors taken down in a way we’ve never seen before. There have been other villainous forces going up against Rick and the gang, but none of them have ever been able to make the crew literally kneel to them and deliver all of their finest goods on a silver platter. That is until Negan showed up, with an introduction like no other as he killed not one, but two main members of the show’s leading cast. Many have wondered just how Rick will be taking down the leader of the Saviors, if at all, and it looks as if television network AMC are now beginning to offer up some answers.

AMC has revealed three new images from the second half of the show’s seventh season, showing Rick Grimes and his group of friends and followers gearing up for war against Negan and the Saviors. You can see the images below, followed by a plot description for the season's second half:

The Walking Dead season 7 group shot
The Walking Dead season 7 group in field
Rick Grimes Walking Dead Season 7

“The first half of Season 7 saw Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group broken by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), forced to fall under his will and brutally convinced to live under his rules. The second half of the season will focus on preparing for war and gathering the supplies and numbers to take Negan down once and for all.

“Rick’s group will find out yet again that the world isn’t what they thought it was. It’s much bigger than anything they’ve seen so far. While they have a singular purpose - - to defeat Negan - - it won’t come easy. More importantly, victory will require more than Alexandria. They need the numbers of the Kingdom and the Hilltop, but, similar to how Rick felt, Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Gregory (Xander Berkeley) do not want bloodshed. To convince them otherwise will take more than speeches. The lengths Rick and the group will have to go to in order to find weapons, food and new fighters is nothing short of remarkable.

“We’ll meet new survivors in incredible places. We’ll see Rick and the group tested in ways we’ve never seen before. We’ll see treachery from people we trust. Rick is confident as he will see his group and many others band together with the common goal of taking down Negan. But no amount of planning will prepare the group for all-out war with Negan and his army.”

The new intel and images provided may show that Rick and his group are confident when it comes to taking down Negan, but they’re going to need more than their willingness to succeed to make a success of any attack they make on the Saviors leader. With Jeffrey Dean Morgan already confirming he’s going to be bringing Negan back to the series in its eighth season however, we shouldn’t expect his downfall to come at any point in the too-near future.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, February 12 at 9pm.

Source: AMC (via IGN)