Only a few weeks have passed since the epic Season 8 finale of The Walking Dead, but details are already starting to come out about what to expect from Season 9. New images from a Season 9 filming location have hit the web, and they indicate episodes will take the zombie apocalypse survivors somewhere they've never been before. The images also have us more than a little confused. Check them out:
On the one hand, these images look a lot like what we've seen a hundred times before on The Walking Dead: abandoned cars flipped on their sides, debris scattered, and overall look of despair on the street. The significance of these pictures lies in where that street is located. According to the woman who snapped the pics, they were taken outside the Judicial Building in Georgia. It's unlikely that The Walking Dead would just randomly choose such a location for filming. Given the location of Alexandria in Virginia, the odds are that The Walking Dead characters will appear in Washington D.C. in Season 9.
A big question is why Washington D.C. is being visited in Season 9. Supply runs often take characters out of their comfort zones, but a supply run to a city in the zombie apocalypse is incredibly dangerous. There could be zombies everywhere, and everything there is to plunder might have been taken during the original exodus from the city! We may want to expect the Washington D.C. scenes to follow a new group of characters who start out in the city and then later make the trip to Alexandria or Hilltop. The Walking Dead will presumably need some new characters now that the conflict with the Saviors is over. Could the time have come for the Whisperers?
Another photo has emerged from The Walking Dead filming for Season 9 that indicates the show will shoot more than just exteriors in this particular area:
A production company is evidently filming for The Walking Dead inside the state capitol in Georgia, and it certainly looks like it could be doubling as a zombie apocalypse refuge for survivors with the tents and assorted debris. Assuming Atlanta is doubling for Washington D.C., the state capitol building may be doubling for the Smithsonian Museum in D.C. It's difficult to say for sure, but the tattered banner hanging in the rotunda seems to read "American History Wing." Could survivors have tried to hide out in the Smithsonian after the zombie apocalypse?
We'll have to wait and see. Another photo from the set of The Walking Dead points toward a sizable time jump, so anything can happen at this point. If there is indeed a big time jump, Maggie and Co. will presumably have had a lot of time to gain some ground against Rick. Now that Lauren Cohan is confirmed to return, there will hopefully be a lot of story to tell at Hilltop. At this point, we can only guess how the probable trip to Washington D.C. will fit into the plot.
Unfortunately, we'll probably be waiting for a while. Every season of The Walking Dead to date has debuted in mid-to-late October, so we'll likely be waiting for another five months or so to see the next episode. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in zombie apocalypse news, and don't forget to take a look at our summer TV premiere schedule for what you can watch while we wait for the show to return.
