After two long months, last night saw the mid-season return of AMC juggernaut The Walking Dead. While the plot primarily focused on Rick's attempts to enlist the the forces of the Hilltop Colony and Ezekiel's Kingdom into his plan to take the fight to Negan, there was one particular action sequence involving a massive herd of walkers that seemed to take the breath of everyone watching away at the exact same time. Arguably one of the coolest walker kills in the history of TWD, fans marveled at the awesome sight they had been gifted with.

Of course, this is far from the first visually impressive walker kill in the history of The Walking Dead, as the now veteran series has employed all kinds of deliciously gory methods for dispatching them in the past. One of the coolest  - yet also most disgusting - prior to last night was when Daryl used a vehicle's hatchback to obliterate the head of an unfortunate walker who was looking to acquire its latest meal.

For those interested in finding out how last night's massive walker kill was executed, EW has released a set of episode director - and series executive producer - Greg Nicotero's storyboards for the sequence. These images offer fans a behind the scenes look at how the instant replay worthy sequence was visually mapped out. Check them out in the gallery below.

[vn_gallery name="The Walking Dead Season 7 Storyboards" id="901094"]

The above is just the latest in a long legacy of amazing death scenes that Nicotero - who first gained Hollywood notoriety for his work as a horror FX creator - has been involved in. Nicotero cut his teeth working under legendary gore maestro Tom Savini on the classic George Romero zombie opus Day of the Dead, which featured some of the most realistic looking splatter the zombie genre had seen up until that point. He would also work on such blood-drenched cult hits as Evil Dead II, Phantasm II, and From Dusk Till Dawn. In other words, the man knows his stuff.

With The Walking Dead's season 7.5 premiere now in the books, one wonders just how many more breathtaking large-scale effects sequences that season's 7 remaining episodes have in store. The TWD team has never been one to rest on their laurels in the gore department, and it wouldn't be at all surprising to see the above massacre made to look positively quaint by an even more insane scene that airs a few weeks from now. After all, all-out war is coming, and the number of casualties - both human and walker - is sure to be high.

The Walking Dead season 7 airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.

Source: EW