The Walking Dead Banner Image Teases Hope, Tragedy But No Negan

AMC has all hands at the pump in anticipation of the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead season 6, which will expand the network’s flagship flesh-munching series into a brand new world.

At least, that’s according to the stirring banner image revealed today, showcasing a battle-scarred Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Morgan (Lennie James) out on patrol, and your typical waves of undead. Alongside the unveiling, Executive Producer, Showrunner and series stalwart Scott M. Gimple teased the ways in which “this image gives a look at tiny pieces of a larger world our group is about to discover. In the new world, they’ll find hope, possibility, tragedy and the terrifying cost of change.”

What today’s image doesn’t allude to, however, is the introduction of Jeffery Dean Morgan’s newcomer Negan, the big bad that’s set to upstage even the Governor when it comes to sheer and relentless evil. Brandishing a barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat named Lucille, Morgan’s villain proved to be a memorable antagonist throughout his run in Robert Kirkman’s source material, and it’ll be fascinating to see how Gimple and Co. handle his transition onto the small screen.

Outside of Lincoln, James and Morgan as the sneering Negan, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Sonequa Martin-Green, Lauren Cohan, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus all return in their respective roles.

Best get to reshuffling those Valentine’s Day plans: The Walking Dead lumbers back onto AMC with season 6’s midseason premiere on February 14 at 9:00pm ET/PT. And we’re hopeful that the network can keep the reveal of Jeffery Dean Morgan’s masochist under wraps until then.