A new promo for The Walking Dead season 9 has been released, and it offers fans a deeper look into the themes the series will tackle this year. It’s clear that the upcoming season of The Walking Dead will be something of a mini reboot for the show, with main characters like Rick Grimes departing as well as a change in showrunner with Angela Kang taking over for Scott Gimple. With the series bleeding viewers in season 8 (though it still remains one of the most popular shows on cable), fans may agree that the changes couldn’t have come at a better time.

Still, even with Andrew Lincoln’s Rick eventually departing The Walking Dead sometime in season 9, AMC has centered a lot of the promos on the character, who has been the main staple of the series since the very beginning. Additionally, a lot of this material has focused extensively on Rick’s leadership as he attempts to make peace between the many communities and ensure a viable future for humanity. This newest promo is no exception to that tactic.

Related: Walking Dead Season 9 Casts Two More Familiar Comic Book Characters

Released via Comic Book, The Walking Dead has unveiled even more footage of season 9 in the form of a new promo. In the video, Rick has become more popular with the various communities, with Michonne dubbing him “the famous Rick Grimes” in a somewhat joking fashion. Also included is the characters touching on the theme of a new beginning for everyone as well as a short interview with main star Lincoln.

Click Here To See The Walking Dead Promo

While fans will be thrilled that Rick is finally achieving a level of recognition that he has in the comics, it’s more than likely foreshadowing for the civil war that’s been teased between Rick, Maggie and Daryl since the end of season 8 after Rick made the decision to let Negan live. It’ll be interesting to see how The Walking Dead balances this storyline with the introduction of the next big bad, The Whisperers.

However Kang and AMC decide to push forward, Lincoln has at least promised that season 9 of The Walking Dead and its themes will share a lot in common with season 1, especially the premiere episode, which is slated to be extra-long in runtime. He has also praised Kang’s abilities, claiming that she’s “breathed new life into [The Walking Dead]” as well given the show “a real positive energy.” Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but after such monumental changes to the source material in season 8 (the biggest of which was Carl Grimes’ unexpected death), it may be difficult for AMC and company to bring back viewers who have already given up.

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The Walking Dead season 9 premieres October 7th on AMC.

Source: Comic Book