Warning: spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead's Season 7 midseason finale, "Hearts Still Beating."
The first half of The Walking Dead Season 7 has come to an end, and we now have a hiatus to recuperate from the first stage of Negan's reign of terror. The midseason finale killed off a couple of folks, but it was surprisingly uplifting as most of the main players finally reunited at Hilltop, and Rick even got his Colt Python back. The very last scene was less uplifting, however, as it showed a mysterious someone approaching Alexandria in the dark.
Most of the main characters were actually gone from Alexandria in the very last scene. In fact, the only arguably important characters who were still at Alexandria were Father Gabriel and Judith, and nobody on sentry duty spotted the person watching them. While Rick and his pals were making plans at Hilltop, somebody had his or her eye on their home. Unfortunately, all we really know about this somebody at this point is that he or she wears boots that are pretty gross.
The episode tag was actually the second and more ominous sign that we got of this secret stalker following Rick's group. The first time we got a look at the boots came much earlier in the midseason finale when Rick and Aaron were escaping the houseboat with their stash of pilfered weapons. The person presumably got to see the ingenuity of Rick and Aaron as they got their hands on the cache of floating supplies, but also saw two grown men climb into a rowboat riddled with bullet holes in it and were then surprises they were sinking sooner than desired. I can't blame him or her for wanting to keep an eye on the wild card crew from afar before approaching.
We can't say just yet if this person is going to be a friend or foe to the good guys in the second half of Season 7. In fact, we can't even say if this person is a man or a woman. The boots and footfalls were pretty masculine, but few things are ever as they seem in this zombie apocalypse. Who knows? Maybe the mysterious stranger is a woman who dressed like a man to deter people like Negan from wanting to turn her into a wife.
The odds are pretty good that the person in the boots is the new character that The Walking Dead was looking to cast for the second half of Season 7. The show was casting a character - then known as "Brion" - who would be a smart and stoic leader with confidence to spare. The announcement of the character didn't specify whether "Brion" would be a man or a woman, nor what the chances would be of things going well for everyone.
Of course, the casting announcement also didn't mention the character's boots, so we can't guarantee that the mystery person stalking Rick's group is "Brion." Still, the description sounds pretty solid for a live-action version of the Walking Dead comics character called Magna, who is the tough-as-nails leader of a small group discovered by Jesus on one of his dangerous outings. Her group fits into the zombie apocalypse in a different way than either Rick's group or Negan and the Saviors in the comics, and she could be a fun addition to the rest of Season 7 if she's the one wearing the boots. Plus, it's believable that she would be the one spying on Rick's group.
Appearing on Talking Dead following the midseason finale, creator Robert Kirkman did make reference to the unseen creepster, but to be expected, it wasn't a spoiler-filled reveal. He basically said that the second half of the season would concern itself with this potential threat, and not a lot after that.
We'll have to wait and see, since The Walking Dead won't return to AMC for the second half of Season 7 until 2017, so check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what else you can catch on the small screen in the new year.
